Starships and Spitwads
by IPP
Summary: Are they really so different after all? ...Yes. Yes, they are. ZADF. COMPLETE.
1. Prologue: Lost

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

His head was spinning. Face down on his desk, Dib gripped the edges tightly and held on. A few things flashed around in his head- unintelligible Irken symbols, his father's face, the colorful flashing lights of the various things he had been designing each and every night of the week. He couldn't see much though, with his eyes being closed- only the things in his brain.

"…M-Ms. Bitters?"

Looking up from where she was scrawling a thirteenth 'DOOM' on the board with the edge of a rusty nail, Ms. Bitters turned around and promptly looked at Dib with annoyance.

"What is it, Dib?"

"I…need to go…" Dib forced himself to open his eyes, feeling like they might burn out of his sockets at the assault of the fluorescent lights. This was new. He had had many sleepless nights, staying up dawn to dusk and then some, over his short life, but this was different. This was…

"Bathroom," he croaked out, eyes watering behind his glasses. He didn't really need the bathroom. He just needed to get out of this place. The lights, the glares, the paper planes…He was reaching his limit.

"…All right," Ms. Bitters acknowledged with a snarl, pointing to the nearby metal grate. "Keef has left with the other, so take the auxiliary hall pa-"

Dib didn't even give her a chance to finish. The boy all but leapt out of his chair and burst through the classroom door, into the hall. Eyes large now, though burning like there was acid in them, he looked around quickly for somewhere to go. Somewhere dark, quiet. No screens, televisions, computers…mirrors…

The bathroom was out of the question. Too bright, and it would be too easy for him to be found in there. Frantic, he broke out into a run along the side of the hall and reached out, trying the knobs on all the janitor closet doors and finding each locked. Panting, he took a deep breath and swayed on the spot, having to grab the wall to keep from falling over. He needed out!

Bursting out through the main skool doors, Dib raised his arm to hide his eyes as much as he possibly could without obscuring his vision completely, lopsidedly running down the road and ducking into a side street. He widened his eyes and cursed shakily as the abrupt movement caused his glasses to swing off his face and into the street somewhere. He couldn't stop. He had to keep going…

There! Nestled between two apartment buildings was a dark alley, calling to him with its quiet promise of silence and shade. Dib could have cried from happiness. He wasn't sure which street he was on (it wasn't like he would have been able to read a street sign with the current blurriness of his vision, anyways), but he couldn't have cared less. Craving being away from the light of the blaring sun, he ducked into the alley and immediately slid down against the wall of whatever building he had gone past, curling into a ball with his knees up against his chest and feeling the cold, comforting brick supporting him. For the first time in weeks, he took a deep, fulfilling breath and closed his eyes. Heaven…it was heaven. No beeping. No lights. No spitwads.

Before he knew it, everything was dark for Dib.

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Very short, since this was sort of a prologue type-of-thing. Please stay tuned. The real story begins soon!


	2. Chapter 1: GET ME OUTTA HERE!

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Dib didn't remember where he was when he began his return to consciousness. He was just focusing on how good he felt- calm, like his insides had been fighting a battle against some virus and had finally won. Body amazingly fluid and relaxed, the boy kept his eyes closed and took a deep breath, unwilling to move or to open his eyes. It was so soft, whatever he was laying on. Wait…what WAS he laying on?

Slowly, memories began to come back to Dib. He remembered running out of class, gripping a bunch of door-handles, the feeling of intense desperation. His brow twitched in his half-conscious state. He remembered the burning of the sunlight in his eyes, ducking into some dark place, and…that was it.

Shifting slightly, he felt the softness beneath him adjust to his weight. Wherever he was…it didn't feel familiar. Was there some way he had managed to get back home? Shifting again, Dib experimentally opened one tired eye, only to feel his insides shrink up sharply in horror.

Two big, pink eyes stared right into his single open one, gleaming in the darkness.

"…GAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Alarm bells ringing off painfully loudly in his head, Dib scrambled over the soft surface and floundered for something to use to shield himself, yelping as he accidentally shoved himself back against the arm of what, upon closer inspection, appeared to be a big maroon sofa.

"…greetings, vile Dib-beast."

Dib found himself unable to move. There opposite him on the sofa sat his familiar red-eyed nemesis, staring at him pointedly with a rather wicked look on his face. Heart beating and palms sweating, the boy did his best to scoot back further. Where was he? How had he gotten here? And how on EARTH had ZIM gotten ahold of him?

"Hahahaha!" Obviously finding great amusement in the human's distressed confusion, Zim smirked and stared unblinkingly at his arch nemesis. "Oh, Dib-thing! Your antics are so very AMUSING!"

"…where am I?" Dib managed, sweating increasingly worsening as he began to realize his predicament. Here he was, alone, no weapons on him and without his wits, aching…captured. Casting a wary glance over his shoulder, Dib shuddered as he found himself staring into the wide-eyed gaze of some kind of disturbing yellow monkey image that hung on the wall, blood draining out of his face.

"…your base!"

Zim laughed again, still wearing his unflinching smirk. "Very perceptive, Dib-thing. Then again, what did you expect?" He inched closer to the middle cushion of the couch, causing Dib's heart to leap into his throat again. "You practically GAVE yourself to Zim! Surely this was what you anticipated, no?"

Oh god…the jerk was messing with his head now. Eyes burning, Dib affixed his opponent with as unflinching a stare as he could muster. "I-I did not," he defied, sure it was a trick or a lie intended to throw him off. "Liar."

To Dib's vague amusement, it was Zim's turn to stare in confusion.

"…you were laying unconscious against the wall of Zim's house," Zim replied matter-of-factly, one eye narrowing. "Was this not as you intended, Dib-stink?"

"…" Dib felt like his mouth was full of sand. Against Zim's house…Was that even possible? He remembered darkness, an alley. Oh god…Zim's house was IN an alley.

Gritting his teeth, feeling like he should be angry and outraged, Dib glared stiffly into Zim's eyes, reaching up in pain, however, when his eyes began to burn again. From what he could tell, this surprised Zim, since the alien simply sat there and watched him, one of the black antennae cocking noticeably forward.

"What afflicts you?" his nemesis asked, reaching out swiftly with a gloved hand. Before Dib knew it, three fingers were around his black lock of hair, and his head was wrenched down painfully to meet Zim eye-to-eye.

"Wh-what are you talking about? Let me go!" Dib cried out painfully, gritting his teeth and reaching up to shove him off. He groaned as he was tugged in even more forcefully, going limp for a moment as the ache in his head throbbed painfully, making itself known again.

"…You look rather dead," came Zim's voice again, tone seemingly curious. To Dib's relief, his hair was released, but that didn't stop those red eyes from staring right into his like two big glaring lights. "Pity the almighty ZIM wasn't the one to put you in such a state!" Grinning in a way that made Dib's stomach churn, Zim sat back and watched Dib for a moment, only to lean back in and peer creepily into the human's eyes.

Freaked out to say the least and trying to think of a way out, wondering why on Earth all these sorts of things had to happen to HIM, Dib looked from side to side as inconspicuously as possible, not wanting Zim to anticipate that he was making a run for it.

"Your eyes…" Seemingly more perplexed than anything now, Zim leaned in and, much to Dib's horror, reached out and pinched harshly on the skin right under his left eye. "They are dark, but the rest of you is pale." The invader sat back, previously smug expression having been replaced with one of pondering.

"What has happened to you, _Dib-thing_?"

Dib winced. He wanted OUT. He had never felt so uncomfortable in his life!

"Nothing's HAPPENED to me, Zim. Just…leave me alone!" Reaching behind himself, he slid one hand into the pocket of his trench coat, putting on his most convincing smirk.

"I have the cuffs. I'll cuff you."

Zim laughed, and Dib knew the ruse hadn't worked.

"What a filthy little liar. You don't think I checked you over beforehand, pitiful human?" A toothy grin. "Besides! You are in MY base, Dib. Do you not expect that were you to pull some of your inferior Earth-technology on me, I would have ample defenses and then some to thwart your foolish little plan?"

Oh god. He'd _checked him over _while he was unconscious? _…Ew._

Dib felt even more blood rushing from his face, presumably to other parts of himself, though he felt like he was draining completely. Zim was right…and he knew it. Normally he would have fought tooth and nail against anything Zim said, but man did he hurt…Taking a breath, he contented himself with sitting stilly and keeping his eyes open with the slowly returning strength, watching Zim suspiciously. Maybe he could stall…

"You haven't been in skool lately, _Zim_," he finally commented, narrowing his eyes a little further. It was true- Dib had gone in every day that week, only to see that familiar desk completely devoid of alien scum. It hadn't begun to bother him until Tuesday or Wednesday had rolled around- Zim sometimes didn't bother to go to skool, but normally he returned after a day or two, probably to appear as 'normal' as possible. It was a little unnerving, not seeing him there. Dib could only suspect that Zim - sickeningly- was working on some kind of genius evil scheme or something equally horrible.

"So?"

"So?" Dib sat up and bravely stuck his head out, glaring. Zim was really starting to piss him off. "So why haven't you?"

Zim waved his hand at Dib. "Nothing of interest, Dib-thing. At least…nothing I'm interested in telling you." He smirked slowly at the boy, sending chills up the young investigator's spine. Seemingly figuring he had answered the question well enough, Zim then scooted forward and did an absolutely _terrifying_ thing.

Pushing forward, Zim promptly sat on Dib's chest and pinned him down, grinning into his face.

Oh god! Certain Zim was prepared to slit his throat or pull one of his eyeballs out, Dib winced noticeably and, for once, turned his head to the side to break eye contact. He just wanted to go home! He didn't want to fight with this evil bastard right now!

"So tell me, Dib-thing," the alien continued, staring unflinchingly down at him before reaching out to curiously poke on the area he had pinched before. "About your…dark-eye diz-eeze, or whatever it is you have."

Dib groaned. Not this again.

"Just…sh-shut up, okay? It's none of your business." Dib would have yelled, but he was scared his air supply might be cut off…For once, Zim seemed to have a decided advantage.

"Oh, but it is my business. It is MY job to end your pitiful existence, is it not?" A pause, followed by a chilling "I can't have whatever eye-ickies you seem to suffer from doing away with you before I get the chance to finish you off."

"…I'm not saying anything until you tell me why you haven't been at school," Dib spat out in return. He didn't want to tell Zim why he looked so terrible, anyways- but he could always lie. Say he was sick, or something. Covered in germs. He knew Zim wouldn't react too favorably to THAT. Maybe that would get him to let him go!

"Hmm…" Zim, surprisingly enough, seemed to be considering it. "Let's just say I have been working on….private matters. Contact with my leaders, and such things. GENIUS, no?" His resounding chuckle seemed to poke fun at the human's helplessness.

"Now, back to your eye...thingy." Again, he reached out to pinch and poke at Dib's under-eye darkness, only to blink in surprise as his wrist was grabbed.

"STOP." Dib had had enough. Sitting up and forcibly knocking the Irken from his chest, the boy tightened his grip on Zim's arm. He no longer felt scared and he had forgotten his lie…He was angry. He wanted Zim to shut up and leave him alone!

"I'm just…TIRED, okay, ZIM? I'm tired! I've been up for, like, ten days without sleep! Happy now?"

Zim watched the human in surprise, both eyes rather large. Dib was surprised he had admitted this to his enemy, but he was more surprised at Zim's reaction to it.

"Sleep…so THIS is what happens when a human does not sleep?" Zim thought aloud in a voice that sounded like that of somebody taking notes as they listened to an interesting lecture. Dib said nothing and, to his great discomfort, found himself with a face-full of alien again.

"Are there OTHER symptoms of this…lack of sleep, then?" he inquired, looking Dib up and down for a few moments before sitting back, face showing a slightly disappointed expression, as if he had been expecting something he hadn't been able to find.

"Well?"

"…gee, I'm not sure," Dib replied sarcastically with a roll of eyes, feeling his head throb painfully again. "You really don't know about sleep, Zim? How long have you been here?"

"Zim knows about your 'sleep'! He just finds it ridiculous how you pitiful HUMANS seem to need such a ridiculous thing," the alien replied, leaning in again as if to make Dib uncomfortable intentionally and speaking in the disgusting tone of a scientist observing a pinned animal. "So…what are the other problems Dib-thing feels as a result of being 'without sleep'?"

Dib lost it.

"Oh, I don't know, ZIM! How about headaches? Stomach aches? Feeling DEAD all the time like a zombie?" Anger getting the better of him, Dib reached out for a cushion and promptly threw it at Zim before the alien could stop him, feeling a sort of sick satisfaction in his gut when it smacked the surprised invader right in the face.

"Dib-"

"How about feeling useless? Like you just want to pass out all the time? HOW ABOUT THAT_, ZIM_?"

Aware his nemesis would recover at any moment, Dib eyed the knob to the men's room door sealing the alien fortress and sprung over the sofa, grasping it with both hands. He heard Zim shout something to the computer and felt the throbbing vibrations as the familiar intruder-alert alarms sounded, wincing. Now or never.

"DIB-THING!"

With all his strength, the boy pulled at the door and watched as it miraculously swung open in front of him, hearing footsteps behind him but feeling too much relief to care. Breaking into a fast, immediate sprint into the night air, Dib navigated across the lawn and ran off into the distance as fast as his feet could carry him, trench coat whipping around his legs with the wind and threatening to trip him. Dib's heart pounded, cold sweat began to trickle down his body, and his lips curved upwards into a smile. He was free.

Take that, Zim!

Dib's speed did not falter when he heard a (surprisingly) curious voice calling out for him, but his mind did. In the background, around the cold gusts of air and his own thoughts, Dib heard the familiar voice shouting after him, but could only just make out what it was saying.

"Why do you not sleep, Dib-stink?" A pause, and then the same, repeated.

"Why do you not sleep?"

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I hope you enjoyed the first real chapter. I'm not really sure how long I expect this story to get, so I hope you'll keep tuned in and see where it's headed, if it interests you :3

Also, something is either up with my computer, or with this website, because it won't allow me to put a question and exclamation mark together in my story...It reduces it to a question mark for some reason. Thus, some of the dialogue isn't quite as punchy as I want it to be. Sorry U.U


	3. Chapter 2: Seeing Clearly?

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Four grams…of what, again?" Dib had to force himself to reread his crumpled lab experiment guide, lamely slouching down to glare at his lab bench unhappily as the rain clattered against the classroom window from outside. It had been another sleepless night last night. From dusk until dawn, he'd simply sat up against his wall and stared out the window at nothing. Well, not nothing; he'd been trying to make sure Zim hadn't caught up with him, after all, and he'd been kind of surprised his adversary hadn't crawled in through his window at some point.

Still, Dib was starting to think that fighting with Zim might have been better than eight hours of dreary staring at the stars.

Dib turned back to his petri dishes, glaring at them, and glanced up at the rest of his classmates, who were all working at their separate benches in twos. Without Zim present there were an odd number of students in the class, so, naturally, everyone had paired up with someone else, leaving Dib to be the lone wolf as usual. He winced and his eye twitched as he felt something hard hit him in the back of the head, turning to see the two nearest girls snickering behind their hands, whispering a few things Dib could catch, a couple being 'freak' and 'weirdo'. He looked down, noticing a cracked test tube at his feet.

Deciding he couldn't care less about actually getting anything done at the moment, Dib cast his eyes back up in the direction of the chalkboard at the other end of the room, squinting. He remembered… he'd lost his glasses the night before in the road somewhere. It wasn't that he needed them for most things, but, being nearsighted, he found it difficult to articulate things that were farther away without them. Giving up on trying to waste time, he sat down and scribbled out a half-complete report on the experiment they were supposed to be doing, approaching the substitute at the front desk and placing it down. The mauve-skinned man stared up dumbly at him, looking somewhat cross-eyed.

"We're always allowed to go early if we finish," Dib lied. Usually, no matter how horrible the lecture or idiotic the thing they had to do, he grit his teeth and pushed through it. His resolve, however, was pretty much completely gone.

"Oh, ok. Derp."

_Yes._ Grabbing his backpack, for once glad that everyone around him was a drooling idiot, Dib promptly stepped out into the hall and walked aimlessly down the empty corridor, staring at his feet as he did so.

That whole thing with Zim the night before had freaked him out. Even if he hadn't had sleepless nights before, he was certain he'd be having them now. And it wasn't just because he was worried about what Zim was doing lately, being out of school and all that. Dib was more concerned about himself. How could he had been so STUPID the night before, passing out against his archenemy's house, of all places? As much as Dib hated to admit it, he knew that if Zim had wanted to...

The boy shuddered as he strolled. He LOATHED knowing that Zim could have done away with him for good without even trying. What had he been thinking, anyways? How hadn't he noticed it was ZIM'S house he'd run to?

Dib tried to read a clock on the other end of the hallway, sighing when he had to get within a few feet of it to actually make out where the hands were pointing. It was still pretty early. He supposed he could go home, but Gaz would know he had left school if he didn't walk home with her at the end of the day. Dib didn't really want his father finding out about that, especially since he had left _chemistry class_ early. Dib took a moment to lean against a row of lockers, kicking the floor with the toe of his boot. Professor Membrane would be disappointed in him, shunning "real science" like that.

Feeling a surge of something unpleasant run through him, Dib swiftly walked away from the lockers and turned. He'd just go home. He didn't care what Gaz did, and with any luck, she wouldn't bring up what he'd done, either. Turning the corner, he paused at the sight of the door at the end of the hallway, reading the sign.

_Compewter Lab_

Dib's heart rose a little bit. He could stay in there for the rest of the day. Surely nobody would really _care_ he was missing, or they would be glad he was. At least that way he didn't have to go home and stare at the piles of broken and non-operational devices that currently littered his room. Deciding that was his best option, the boy reached out and let himself in, not surprised to find it was unlocked.

Despite his comfort in dealing with the paranormal, Dib had to admit that the Compewter Lab was one of the creepier places at skool. There were no windows and very few operating computers; most of them consisted only of a flashing monitor screen that constituted the only light in the room, since all the fluorescent bulbs in the overhead lights had long burnt out and no one seemed to have bothered to change them. Some of the computers had no mouse attached to them, some no keyboards; one was even bashed in, and the glass crunched under your feet whenever you walked past it. Dib shuddered and made his way to the only one of the computers that he was certain worked, sitting down at the end of the row and opening up the start menu. He could probably play Pac-man or something to kill time…

Just as he clicked to open the Internet, however, Dib heard the squeak of a folding chair and turned around abruptly, startled. Was someone in there with him? He couldn't remember the last time he hadn't been the only one…this was his sanctuary, sometimes, when he needed to get away from it all. Thinking the sound might have been caused by one of the ancient chairs degrading but suspicious by nature, Dib stood up warily and peered at the rest of the room through the darkness, vision blurry.

Only a few of the other computers were on, and most of those were flickering, making it difficult for Dib to get a good look around the room. He squinted, eyes aching familiarly again. He couldn't see anyone else…

Praying that things were just naturally squeaking around, he walked quietly down the side of the room, keeping close to the wall. Relieved to see each row empty, he sighed and strolled to the final row just for good measure, tensing immediately at the familiar sight of a bad toupee.

"…ZIM?" Dib couldn't resist stepping warily closer to confirm his fears, peering at the small alien and watching him turn around. His heart dropped into his gut at the sight. There he was. His rival sat there in one of the squeaky metal chairs, leaning against the desk and sitting behind another of the bright computer monitors. Zim was staring right back at him with those fake blue eyes and holding something in his hands.

"Oh…Hello, _Dib_," Zim eventually replied, surprisingly slow to the punch as he turned around, hands now out of sight. "Horrible weather we're having on your filthy, human planet."

Dib squinted further in confusion. He was surprised to see Zim in school at all, and the night before had left him more than wary, really. But even more than that…

"What's that thing in your hand?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him as he tried to peer down to Zim's lap where his hands were hidden.

To his surprise, the alien's expression looked…uncomfortable.

"Oh…nothing you need to concern yourself with, Dib-beast," Zim eventually replied, moving his arms so they were further hidden behind his back. "The almighty ZIM is simply enjoying the darkness of your pitiful…compewter…cave."

Dib stared flatly at Zim. "What is it?" he asked bluntly, stepping forward and threatening to go behind Zim, only to watch his adversary scoot back further in his chair.

"Zim told you! Zim holds nothing!"

"Liar!" Determination strengthened by the resistance, Dib quickly ran behind Zim and thrust a hand down the back of the chair, victoriously gripping something small from the gloved hands and snatching it up into his grasp.

"Ha!" Backing up, the boy looked down in curiosity and paused, staring at his own reflection gleaming back from two wide, glass lenses. That was…

"…your eyeball-glass, yes," the familiar voice admitted, causing Dib to look up in surprise. Zim stared at him with a stubborn expression, one eye narrowed. "You have discovered me, but do not think you have won, dirt-child. Zim has discovered the secrets of this eyeball-glass! He knows that you have planted a false reproduction of the real thing!"

"…My glasses? Wh-what are you doing with my glasses?" the boy inquired in total confusion, watching his tired reflection before looking back up at Zim. Even for Dib, this all was too surreal. He was beginning to think he was imagining things, that this whole ordeal was just a bad dream…

"Zim found them in the street," Zim replied curtly, seemingly miffed his discovery was in the hands of the enemy. "Zim thought they would be a good way to learn your pitiful human weakness. When he tried them on, however, he discovered your silly diversion tactics! Even an idiot HUMAN like yourself would not wear a device that makes his eyesight WORSE than it already is!"

"…" Suddenly feeling a little woozy, Dib sat down in one of the nearby chairs with a creak, sighing. "…what are you TALKING about, Zim?" All this weirdness lately was starting to give him a headache. At least, he hoped it was Zim who wasn't making sense right now…

"Zim tried them on!" Zim replied with a glare, crossing his arms. "They made his eyesight worse! Clever ploy, Dib-thing, but Zim has seen right through it!"

"…" Surprised and yet somehow not, finding he was having an odd reaction to Zim's stubborn, slightly pouting face, Dib reached up and covered his mouth with both hands, lips curving into a rare grin.

"Z-Zim," he chuckled in genuine amusement and gasped for breath, trying to bite down his laugher. "Glasses…they don't work for everyone! They're_ made_ for my eyes. Of course they make your sight blurry!" he explained, sliding his glasses back onto his face and choking down another sputter. It was even funnier when he could see Zim's pouting more clearly! He could just imagine Zim wearing his glasses and stumbling around!

"…I see." Obviously seeing no humor in the situation, Zim turned stubbornly to the side and turned to glare at Dib, who still couldn't keep his laughter under control.

"You never answered Zim's question, Dib-stink."

Dib paused in his laughter and took a deep breath, looking back into his enemy's face and finding the confusion there…familiar. For some reason, it reminded him of the night before, an observation that made Dib's stomach swirl and twist unpleasantly, as if it had been filled with concrete.

"…What question was that, space-boy?" he asked eventually, replying with the familiar nickname out of habit.

"Well." Zim put his feet up on the desk, heels clacking against the keyboard of the computer with the flashing monitor. "Zim asked you why you do not sleep, Dib-beast."

"Oh…" Tasting a bad flavor in his mouth, Dib swallowed down a groan and looked away. He wanted to stand up and go home, but he didn't want to come off looking like a coward. Especially not to Zim.

"Just…I've been busy. Working on stuff," he replied vaguely, looking back with one eyebrow raised. "Descriptive enough for you?"

"Not at all," Zim replied, sitting up more intently and staring like he expected a better explanation.

"…Why should I even tell you anything?" Reaching up, Dib rubbed at the side of his head but did his best to hold his ground. "You're not exactly telling me anything about your…'contacting your leaders', or whatever it was."

The alien looked perplexed. "That wouldn't benefit Zim."

Dib wanted to smack his head against the table. Why even bring up the concept of fairness in Zim's presence?

"…forget it, then."

"…" Zim's look was unreadable for a moment, before his expression turned into something like reluctant disgust.

"Dib-_beast_," he finally addressed smoothly, one of his hairless eyebrows rising upwards. "Perhaps Zim can trade you…an insight for this information. IF the Dib tells Zim what he would like to hear."

"…" Dib had to run the words through his head for a moment. "If I tell you, you'll tell me what you're planning, then?" he tried to clarify, a little surprised Zim would give in so easily. Then again, Zim seemed to go to any lengths possible to destroy him, and was probably smug enough about his plan that he wouldn't care about giving him a few hints. Come to think of it, Zim OFTEN ran his mouth off.

"If the Dib will enlighten me as to what has been occupying his sleep-time."

Dib sighed.

"Fine. I've been…working on projects. You know, paranormal stuff, science stuff…you," he admitted grudgingly, staring at Zim flatly. "I've been building some things. I made a translation device that translates alien languages into English." Of course, Dib did not admit that that experiment had been a complete failure and now was sitting in a pile of wires and buttons in the corner of his room. With everything else.

"…that is it?" Zim inquired when Dib had gone quiet for a few moments, mouth turning upwards into a grin the human knew immediately that he didn't like. "You have been devoting your nights to Zim?"

"Not just to you," Dib spat back, crossing his arms defensively. It was true. He'd really just been immersing himself in projects left and right; a paralyzer gun, an underwater scanning machine, a portable x-ray. _Real_ science. Most of it, at least."Er, defeating you. I work on other stuff, too." Not that any of it actually worked the way it was supposed to.

The alien looked at him curiously. "…and this 'other stuff' takes priority over Zim?"

Dib had the sudden, irrepressible urge to punch his adversary right in his confused face. "No! I mean…you're not my LIFE, Zim," he clarified, standing up. "I _do _have other things without chasing you around every second of the day! Besides…" He tried to smirk but really just felt his head start to ache at the gesture. "If I spent all my time hunting YOU, you'd be on an autopsy table already!"

Zim cackled a little, surprisingly quietly, however. The boy stared at Zim silently for a moment, watching as his enemy stared right back, seemingly without anything else to say, either. Sick of talking and feeling like he might be physically ill from just sitting there in Zim's presence for as long as he had, Dib turned around swiftly but then remembered why he'd gone through all this in the first place.

"Hey…okay, I told you why I haven't been sleeping. Now you tell me what your plan is," he insisted, waiting with curiosity. 'Contacting his leaders' was what he had said, right? Was the Irken Empire coming up with some diabolical plan to conquer the Earth? Were they finally coming to finish the job Zim was always trying to start?

"…" Zim stood up, and Dib thought for a fleeting moment that he was going to get an answer, only for his eyes to widen in horror when he realized the mistake he'd made.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

A smirk later, the door to the compewter lab swung open, and Zim was gone, leaving the hinges creaking mockingly behind him.

"…GRAHHHHHHHH!"

Kicking the nearby wall in frustration and feeling like the biggest idiot on Earth, Dib sank down in one of the creaky chairs and reached up to take his glasses off, pressing his face into his hands. He was such a fool. Telling Zim his part first and actually thinking for a moment Zim would actually HOLD UP his part of the bargain?

Having no energy for a chase whatsoever, Dib stood up and sluggishly made his way out of the compewter lab, bound for his bedroom at home. Maybe it was true.

Maybe Dib was the one who wasn't making any sense anymore.

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I really hope I'm keeping them somewhat in-character! Yikes, what a difficult pair to have interact, no? ;v; Stay tuned!


	4. Chapter 3: Monster in My Bed

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

It wasn't until Dib actually got outside and felt the chill of the pouring rain that he realized that this day could_ indeed_ get worse than it already was.

Startled by the gust of water that blew in to assault him, the young investigator immediately reached up to clutch at his bare arms. Why was…

Where on earth was his trench coat?

Shuddering and looking back behind himself, realizing he had to have left it in the compewter lab and grumbling, Dib promptly turned around to head back in, only to head back out five minutes later, confounded.

It wasn't in there…had he left it in Ms. Bitters' classroom, maybe? It wasn't like he could just waltz back in there and get it. He'd already skipped for however long and he was not in the mood to deal with any more staring eyes on him. Growling, reaching into his backpack for something to shield himself from the rain (which happened to be his science notebook), Dib reached up and covered his head lamely with the book, walking out into the rain and shuddering to feel some of the cold droplets trickling down the sides of his face anyway.

Finally dragging himself to the front door of his house and letting himself in, Dib reached up to take his glasses off and threw his backpack at the base of the stairs. Looking wearily at his soaked book, Dib knelt down and placed the dripping thing in his backpack (somehow not willing to just throw it on the floor), only to look up and right into the glaring gaze of his purple-haired sister.

"Oh…" _Great._ "Hey, Gaz." Wait… "You're not in school," he managed in surprise, wiping his glasses off on his soaked shirt before replacing them with a confused squint. "Why're you home so early?"

Gaz shrugged, and Dib realized she was glaring at the screen of her GameSlave instead of him, as usual. "I got bored." A brief, suspicious glance up before all attention returned to her game again, thumbs punching at the controls.

"Why're _you_?"

"…I don't want to talk about it," Dib sighed, at least slightly relieved that Gaz probably wouldn't turn him in now. How would she have known he went home early if she hadn't been there herself to catch him? Moving past, intent on getting dry, the boy began to make his way up the stairs.

"See you, Gaz. I'm going to my room."

"Don't make too much noise in there with that weird kid, or I'll tell Dad."

"…" Dib froze, stopping immediately on the top step and looking down.

"…huh?"

"Zim's in there."

"…WHAT?"

Dib's mouth went dry in horror. Forgetting all about his soggy state, he practically catapulted himself down the hall and to his bedroom door, clinging to the knob and wrenching his door open. He really hoped this was Gaz' idea of a really unfunny joke…

"…"

It wasn't. Dib saw the alien immediately: a small form curled up on his bed, eyes narrowed peering downward, and body draped in…

"…my coat!" Dib cried out in protest at the realization, door swinging shut behind him from the force he had used to push it open. He felt a surge of rage pass through him and clenched his hands into fists, knuckles going white. He'd walked home through the pouring rain and this jerk was sitting there in his coat? In his BEDROOM? With his…wait, what was that in his hands?

"Dib-thing?" Zim looked up, and Dib could tell he was surprised to see him there. Sitting up, trench coat still wrapped around him and tied underneath his chin, the alien reached out and held up the small, navy blue notebook in his grasp. "This is interesting. I had no idea your...human thoughts possessed these kinds of insights."

Dib only had to look for a moment to realize what Zim had, grit his teeth, and leap at him, fists swinging every which way. He collided with Zim on the bed and reached for the journal in rage, pinning the alien down and staring past the soaked cowlick hanging in front of his face.

"I HATE you!" Grappling with Zim and trying to snatch the article away with one hand, he tugged ruthlessly at the arm of his coat that was tucked under the alien's neck in the hopes he might be able to suffocate him, shock replaced completely with rage. Anger having gotten the best of him, even as Zim began to put up a pretty impressive impromptu struggle, Dib snatched for his things and elbowed his enemy smack to the side of the head, watching his length of sopping black hair swing in front of his face and widening his eyes with a plan.

Reaching up with the hand he had been using to strangle the alien, Dib squeezed down on his flopping hair and watched victoriously as the water gushed down over the exterior of his jacket and directly down the inside of Zim's tunic. "…"

The resounding shriek that happened was somehow enough to knock Dib back a few feet. The boy forgot for a moment what he had been trying to accomplish and covered his ears, trying to block out the inhuman screech. He felt like his brain was turning to gravy!

"FILTHY, INSOLENT DULL-BRAINED MEAT-CHILD!" Zim was wiping frantically at the front of his clothes, antennae stiffening so rigidly under his wig that the black mop began to slide off from one side. Hissing, the alien clawed ineffectively at himself with the dry insides of the trench coat and gave the boy an absolutely poisonous glare. Dib couldn't help but shudder and sit back a little.

"You DARE take advantage of ZIM? Foolish human! Your death will be long and agonizing!" Dib watched in momentary fright as one familiar pointed PAK leg began to extend out in his general direction, only to stop where it was and flop lamely beside its owner. Confused, the human leaned in just enough to watch Zim through his rain-blurred lenses, watching the alien gripping at his shoulder and gritting his teeth.

Realization crossed Dib's mind. Had he hurt him that badly? "Serves you right!" he snapped and stood up at the other end of the bed, tearing his trench coat from the three-fingered hand currently holding it and shaking it out.

"How did you even GET my coat? ! Why do you have it? !"

Zim hissed at him again. "You cannot SEE? Fool!"

"I had to walk home in the rain without a coat because of you!"

"Zim cannot walk out in your DISGUSTING Earth 'rain'!"

Dib paused, watching Zim continually clutch at his shoulder. Oh, right…That would be like Dib willingly walking into a shower of hydrochloric acid.

"Well you didn't have to take MY coat! Go find your own!"

"The Dib left it on a chair in the compewter cave! Zim found it and thus claimed it as his own." Face turning from one of enraged pain to slight smugness, the alien reached back and pulled out the little blue book again, holding it up for Dib to see.

"HA! Zim still has your human note-pages!"

"…Give that back!" Reaching out, immediately remembered why he'd attacked Zim in the first place, the boy grunted and grabbed frantically for his notebook, surprised by how well Zim was passing it from hand to hand and evading him even though his nemesis still seemed reluctant (or maybe unable) to sit up all the way or leave the bed.

"Why are you even in here? !" Dib sputtered out and leaned in to reach for his journal again, ending up with handfuls of air each time. "Give me it! It's mine!"

"And why does the Dib need his little book so badly?" Zim smirked and Dib grit his teeth, glaring at him as he continued to grab for it. The jerk was just trying to get him mad! He considered trying to squeeze more water down Zim, but his hair felt relatively dry now, from what he could tell…

"B-because that's private stuff, Zim!" he eventually replied, face going a little flustered as he sat back in defeat, realizing he was getting nowhere fast. Zim had probably read it anyways. It wasn't like there was _that _much stuff in there. It was just one of his extra notebooks, where he put down ideas he had for inventions, and things. Sketches, drawings…unrelated thoughts, once in awhile, when he got sick of talking to himself.

It was that last part that worried him now. He hoped Zim hadn't read anything personal!

"Pff! Humans and their PRIVACY," Zim scoffed, tossing the notebook carelessly away to Dib's obvious surprise. Apparently the alien hadn't read it, and had just been trying to psych him out….Or else he would have said something incriminating by now, right? Relieved, Dib stood up and opened the mini refrigerator that sat next to the door, taking out a bottle of water and turning stolidly towards the alien again. At any other time, he might have used this to his advantage, having his nemesis there and relatively at his mercy. But he was tired…Tired of the day, tired of Zim, tired of everything. He just wanted him to go.

"Now, get out of my room or I'll pour this water on y-"

"The Dib is surprisingly insightful," the invader interrupted, affixing Dib with a really…weird look, like he was trying to look through his flesh to see his organs, or something. "And yet he acts with the stupidity of any other human. Idiot dirt-child."

"…" Insightful? That wasn't a word he heard used to describe himself very often. "…What do you mean?" Dib demanded warily, holding the water out in front of him in defense. He wouldn't let his guard down around Zim again.

"That is, for a FILTHY human. NOTHING in comparison to the mighty ZIM," Zim clarified, seemingly able to sit up by now, though the eye on his injured side still twitched. Dib watched the false lens slip out. Its owner scoffed and removed the other uncaringly.

"You see, Zim was unaware the Dib knew of what little respect his fellow _humans_ gave him," he continued and flicked the lens aside, bringing an antennae forward and staring at it as if thinking to himself more than talking to the only other being currently in the bedroom. "Yet he allows himself to be pitifully walked over time and time again by his idiotic little 'peers'." Red eyes finally looked in the human's direction, acknowledging his existence.

"You truly do belong on this planet, Dib-stink."

Dib's mind reeled. "…wh-what's that supposed to mean?" he asked before he thought about what he was asking and how it sounded, promptly shutting up. He felt…guilt, searing guilt starting to bubble up in his gut.

…Why did that _offend _him?

When Dib actually glanced up at Zim again, he felt his stomach squirm at the flat look he was receiving. He knew what Zim meant…and he knew Zim knew he knew. Wait, when had Zim gotten on top of his desk?

"Well, by _Earth_ standards, you are relatively un-stupid, Dib-thing," Zim stated, eyes narrowed as he made himself comfortable on a stack of graph paper. "How you can fail to accept just how little your life means to them eludes me."

Dib stared. He was right… Zim was right too much lately. It wasn't like Dib was blind. How could even the most oblivious person NOT notice constant rejection, weird looks, glares, spitwads to the face?…Then again, none of those idiots ever seemed to notice when there was an alien sitting a few desks away.

"Yeah," he admitted begrudgingly, taking his glasses off but not moving his gaze from the floor. He still couldn't believe that bastard had read his stuff, but…he had to play it off cool, right? He couldn't have Zim knowing he'd hit a sore spot. No. Whatever he said, he had to keep his wits around.

"I…I know they don't care. But that doesn't mean I can just…leave them to die! I mean, you wouldn't give up on your leaders, would you?" He managed a glance back up, hoping he could turn the attention away from himself somehow.

Zim looked pointedly unimpressed, like he had just been told a joke he didn't find at all funny. "They are my Tallests," he said matter-of-factly, shifting atop the documents with a crunch. "My reason for living, for being an invader. These…peers of yours. They are not your leaders. You have no allegiance to them."

"But…" Sighing, Dib let his head sink back down again. He knew Zim couldn't understand. Why did they have to talk about this now? Or ever, for that matter?

"You don't…just give up on people, Zim. That's not how it works. You can't just take your anger or whatever out on others. You're supposed to be sympathetic."

"Hah!" Zim's antennae twitched simultaneously. Leaning back on the desk, the invader gripped his gut and laughed, more papers falling to the floor.

"Sympathy! If you lived anywhere else in this galaxy of yours, Dib-stink, you'd never make it past smeethood!" He affixed the human with a sort of half-smirk, half-glare, antennae stopping their twitching and lowering again. "Silly humans and their 'sympathy'. It's as if you all have a DEATHWISH! What use is such a thing, other than to open yourself up for more pain?"

Dib opened his mouth to come up with a retort but couldn't help but pause at the look Zim was giving him. "More…pain?" Suddenly, the boy felt like he might vomit and had to turn away for a second to set the water bottle on his desk, gripping the sides of his head and groaning. What was wrong with him lately? Other than the lack-of-sleep thing…

"Yeah…whatever, Space-Boy," he forced out, regaining his bearings and sitting back up to look at Zim over his shoulder. He widened his eyes when he saw the alien hunched over, punching furiously at some sort of small device.

"…what's that?" Naturally intrigued, Dib scooted his chair over and tried to peer a little closer. For a moment he thought Zim might have picked up something from the nearby pile of mechanic junk, but it only took a moment to recognize that the device wasn't anything he had made himself. On further observation, he saw that the screen on the little purple-grey thing was displaying only static, flickering a constant white and grey despite the gloved fingers that kept tapping on the buttons below it.

"As if I'd tell you," Zim replied surprisingly quietly, seemingly intent on tinkering with his device. "Besides…" He tapped on the side a few times impatiently, lowering it and clacking it against the side of Dib's desk before glancing at the screen again and tossing the thing angrily to the ground.

"…you wouldn't be able to appreciate the abilities of this_ mighty_ Irken technology," he replied lamely, obviously finishing a thought that was no longer very convincing. Glaring down at the floor, Zim hopped down from the desk and swiftly kicked the device to the other end of the room, returning to his perch on the desk and staring at Dib flatly.

"Hey!" Seemingly more concerned about the device's wellbeing than its owner was, Dib followed his curiosity to the other end of the room and picked it up, watching the screen. "…Is it broken?"

"What do you think, Dib-moron?"

"…Well what's it supposed to do?" A little surprised he was able to, Dib ignored the usual insults and turned the device over, staring at the sleek exterior and frowning. "Is it like, TV? Radio?" No, Zim wouldn't have a use for anything like that. He turned it back over, noting a few buttons on the side with various Irken symbols, a couple flashing red. Below these were a few small holes, reminding Dib of a speaker system.

"…" It dawned on him.

"Is it a communication device? Like a phone?"

"…Rather like a 'phone', yes, but far superior," the alien eventually replied, staring at one of his hands as if anything was more interesting than Dib. "I…suspect there is an issue with one of its parts. Yes. You see, I have been attempting to contact my Tallests for the past Earth-week via that…stupid thing. Surely it was built by a low-class factory slave who obviously didn't take the necessary precautions to ensure it would operate for any reasonable amount of time!"

Dib was startled by the outburst and watched as the thing was snatched from his hand and shoved disdainfully into Zim's PAK. "…" He shouldn't be surprised. It was like Zim to be angry. "…You really don't have any other way to contact them?" he asked in confusion, shoulders up a little defensively should Zim fly off the handle. He couldn't help but smirk a little wryly, unable to resist the habitual urge to poke some fun. It was how they were with one another, after all. "So much for being a superior species."

Zim looked up dangerously again, red eye twitching. "Shut your food-hole, filthy Dib-human!" he growled and sprung to his feet with surprising stamina, advancing on him and staring up into his eyes like he wanted to rip them out. Dib stepped back warily, startled. Hadn't he been kind of…well, INJURED a few minutes ago?

"You have no IDEA the havoc my Tallests could wreak upon you! You should be GRATEFUL that they have not yet come and ripped your FILTHY human organs out through one of your DISGUSTING body cavities!"

Dib swerved, feeling sick again but somehow not all that intimidated. He was used to these kinds of outbursts. "Yeah…" he trailed off, looking at Zim's PAK in retained curiosity and taking a deep breath.

"…Too bad you can't call them up so they can threaten me themselves."

Zim growled but, surprisingly, turned around and ignored Dib, crossing his arms, (amazingly) seemingly having lost the urge to argue. "To answer your pitiful question, of _course_ I have another method of contact."

"…So use that," the human replied simply, raising an eyebrow. Zim wasn't that stupid. Senseless, sometimes, but not stupid. Unless…

"Unless that one isn't working either?"

A pregnant pause enveloped the room for a moment.

"You LIE!"

"…So it works, then?"

"…OF COURSE it works!"

Dib blinked before looking at Zim flatly and got back an unreadable look. That made no sense.

"It doesn't work, does it?"

"…Filthy Dib-beast," the alien replied simply, heels clicking as he walked proudly to the window and opened it. Dib noticed a slight stagger, as if Zim had a stitch in his side, but said nothing as he watched him go to depart.

"Zim does not have to entertain your STUPID questions. ZIM has more important things to do!"

In a flash, their conversation was over. Dib could only watch as Zim climbed out of his window and disappeared into the darkness, glasses lopsided on his face. He considered trying to go to bed, but he knew that sleeping wasn't really going to work at this point. He had too much to think about. Zim had given him plenty of headaches over the past year and it didn't look like tonight was going to be an exception.

Sitting back down at his desk, Dib looked at the papers Zim had all but destroyed, recognizing one as one of his attempts at planning out the inner machinations of a jet engine. He reached out and lifted it up curiously, running his eyes over the various equations and the continuous error scribbles that always came on the right side of each equals sign. Eyes trailing upwards, he followed the lines of the jet walls to the top of the page, pausing. A couple of small Zim-like creatures were doodled in the margin on the left.

Sighing, Dib stuffed the useless paper back into his desk and tried to shut his eyes, tried to get sleepy. His mind was still going, like an unsatisfied cyclone pulsing somewhere in the interior of his medulla oblongata, waiting for when it might spin out of control and take the rest of Dib with it. He really couldn't wrap his brain about what was going on lately. The frequency of contact with Zim was relatively normal, as was the familiar unpleasantness of it, but it was rather…the circumstances that disturbed him. Dib knew how to deal with tripping in the halls, glaring over desks, snappy remarks and dodge-ball wars. He wasn't sure how to deal with finding his archenemy in his bed with his trench coat on. Especially when there was no REASON for it. At least, no reason he could tell.

Slowly becoming aware of the fact that he was still relatively soaking wet, Dib made sure that the door was shut and the blinds were drawn before stripping down and stepping into some clean pajamas, turning back to where his soggy trench coat lay motionless on the bed like something dead. Considering the bed for a moment, the boy reached out and peeled the comforter off the top, letting his coat slide to the floor. Laying down on the carpet and tugging a pillow from the head of the bed, Dib sank down and curled up beneath the comforter, enveloping himself. He didn't feel like sleeping in that bed, for some reason. There was probably alien residue or something all over it, anyway.

Yawning but not closing his eyes, Dib stared at the wall endlessly, ready for another night without sleep.

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Wow, I'm cranking these out…I shouldn't be. I have too much college to dooo XP

I hope you guys like this so far. I promise, the plot will go somewhere. Just warming up the pot so we can get things cooking!


	5. Chapter 4: Third Strike

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

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The next morning, Dib was feeling…surprisingly good, considering the aching twinge that had taken up permanent residence in his head over the last few days. Despite the familiar eight-hour staring session with the wall the night before, he was somehow still able to get up, shower, get dressed and go downstairs without any grumbling or muttering. This was perhaps due, Dib realized, to the fact that he had made a relaxing decision the night previous while sitting up and staring at the wall.

Dib was going to play sick.

It couldn't hurt much, right? He always dragged himself to skool and, come to think of it, usually didn't learn anything useful. His days consisted mostly of getting bullied and stalking Zim. At the moment, he really wasn't in the mood to do either of those things; Zim's presence in his bedroom the night before had really freaked him out. Most of the time, Dib would have been intent on getting to class just to see if Zim was there, and to try and question him about what he'd been doing and why he was going through his stuff, not to mention what was going on with 'communicating with his leaders' or whatever.

However, Dib was a little overloaded with Zim lately. He figured taking a break for a day or two wouldn't have too disastrous of consequences on the fate of Earth. Especially since his nemesis wasn't exactly successful when it came to taking over the world. A couple of days couldn't make that big of a difference…right?

Pulling out a skillet and deciding he was in the mood for pancakes, the boy rolled up his sleeves and pulled a UFO-shaped pancake mold out of the drawer, turning to get some milk out of the refrigerator and stopping mid-grab as he came face-to-chest with a white lab coat.

"Son!" Professor Membrane declared in surprise, reaching out with a gloved hand to ruff up Dib's already messy hair. "Why haven't you left for skool? The last time I checked, it was already nine-thirty! You are late!"

Dib widened his eyes and brought his hand to his mouth, faking a weak cough. Seriously, the ONE day he skipped his dad had to be home?

"I-I'm sick…I have a cold," the boy sputtered as convincingly as possible, blinking a few times to hopefully get his eyes to water and hunching over a little.

"Oh!" The Professor bent over, wagging his finger. "I have JUST the thing for that, son! You see, I've developed a new medicine that- the TIME!" Dib watched his father stiffen frantically.

"I have to get to the lab! We're studying the MUTANT CATFISH today! I must have the assistants prepare their tank! Have a good day, son!"

Dib's relief was incredible when he watched his father run out the front door. Retrieving the milk from the fridge and taking a bowl out of the top cupboard, he quickly mixed up some batter and poured it into the skillet already on the stove, turning up the heat and sinking the UFO shape into the center.

Twenty minutes later, sitting on the couch comfortably with his tall stack of pancakes and a fork, Dib treated himself bite by bite to heaping portions of the syrupy goo, licking his fingers and feeling around for the remote with his other hand. He knew they played reruns of _Mysterious Mysteries _around nine in the morning. Maybe today would be okay after all.

Feeling that annoying, buzzing ache still lurking in the back of his head, Dib slumped stubbornly against the cushions and tuned into channel eight, watching the familiar theme and sucking residual syrup off his fork.

Dib didn't really realize how long he had stayed like that until the screech of the doorbell went off. Leaping to his feet, having been transfixed by the (supposedly) genuine image of a swamp-ghost on TV, Dib groaningly set his pancakes down and skulked to the door. He couldn't think of anyone he wanted to see at the moment…

"Dib."

Dib paused, staring up at the tall figure with the sharp glasses. "…Ms. Bitters?"

"You don't look _sick_ enough to miss class," she commented with a snarl, brandishing what Dib recognized to be a hefty stack of various papers. He barely had time to process this before it was thrust into his arms, causing him to stagger and struggle not to fall over.

"Here is your homework. Also, ZIM's homework!" Snarling, Ms. Bitters hunched over and chattered her teeth threateningly at him. "Since your little 'alien' friend has been out of class as well, it is_ your _responsibility to bring his work to him."

"…" Gasping, Dib dropped the stack of papers onto the sofa and stepped out from the door, reaching out. "B-but…I can't bring Zim HIS homework! I'm sick, see?" He coughed into his sleeve, looking up at Ms. Bitters with distress that was only half artificial.

Zim was the LAST person he wanted to see right now! This was supposed to be a relaxing day!

"You will bring Zim his homework or I will send the _both _of you to detention for a month!"

"But-"

Dib could only watch as Ms. Bitters slithered away, off his front porch and down the street into the distance. Dread starting to sink in, he clenched his fists and kicked the door shut angrily, hissing as the pain shot up through his toe and hopping back to the sofa on one foot.

Grumbling and ignoring the increased buzzing in his head, the boy stared at the pile of indefinable papers and lamely sorted through a few, managing to separate them into two equal piles and picking one up under each arm. Damn skool. The one day he managed to stay away from it, it went and came to him.

For a moment, Dib considered just throwing all the papers away. It would mean he didn't have to drag himself to Zim's, after all, and that he'd just get to relax for the rest of the day. Still, detention with ZIM of all people didn't appeal to him…He'd never gotten a detention himself, but he'd seen the detention _room_. It was probably the only room creepier than the compewter lab.

Sighing, Dib went upstairs to get his coat, dragging himself outside and down the street.

"Stupid Zim…stupid teacher…" He muttered to himself as he trudged down the sidewalk, turning the corner and heading on autopilot for Zim's base, only to hiss as he stepped on a rather sharp stone in his path with the same foot that was still throbbing from kicking the door. "Stupid rock…stupid foot…stupid-"

He paused as he almost collided with the familiar men's room door. Taking a breath, Dib glared at it intensely, wishing the house would just cease to exist so he didn't have to ring that doorbell.

Struggling to hold all the papers under his arms, Dib shifted to his non-sore foot and managed to press the button with his elbow, waiting for a response.

None came. Annoyed, wanting to just shove the work in Zim's face and go back home, Dib rang the bell a second time, then a third, arms aching with the weight of the stacks of paper.

Still nothing.

Ready to just leave the homework there, the young investigator waddled awkwardly over to the window and tried to peer in, narrowing his eyes. The blinds were drawn. "…I know you know I'm here!" he eventually called out, returning to the door. "Open the door, _Zim_!"

Dib stood there for a minute more before deciding he couldn't take it. Why wouldn't he just open up so he could give him the work and go home? He didn't dare leave the stuff on the doorstep. If for some reason Zim never got it and Ms. Bitters found out…

"That _does _it!" Heaving all the papers painfully under one arm, Dib reached out and grabbed the door-handle firmly, twisting it to the right and throwing his body against the wood in the hopes of somehow breaking in. To his surprise, the knob returned no resistance. Gasping, Dib found himself flung forwards and yelped as he tumbled to the hard floor, forehead smacking painfully against cold metal.

"OW!" God, did EVERYTHING hate him? Groaning, realizing that he'd let go of the papers and feeling several of them settled on his back, Dib raised his head up and blinked a couple of times, readjusting his glasses.

Now where was Zi-

A familiar black antenna made itself known to Dib's low viewpoint. Blinking warily, the boy reached out to push himself to his knees, eyes following the feeler to where it connected to a mass of something a few feet away…

"…?" Shocked, Dib stood up and stared in amazement over at the sight. The first thing he noticed was the PAK- charred and with some of its pink panels missing or molten against the rest of the metal. A few of the pointed PAK-legs hung lifelessly from the burnt remnants, snaking around the floor and forming a twisted tangle around…

Zim.

Taking a wary step forward, Dib peered at the face-down alien on the floor. "What…what on earth?" He looked kind of, well…

Dib knelt and stared for another moment, a little afraid that this was a trap and that he might lose his hand if he reached out and touched anything. He couldn't be…_dead_...could he? He'd been alive the night before! He'd been in his bedroom!

'_Am I going nuts or something?'_ Feeling like he had stepped into some surreal dream, the boy waited another couple of moments before gingerly taking hold of the limp arm. He bit firmly down on his lip, made sure nothing had appeared to attack him, and tightened his grip further, pulling the arm up to flip Zim over.

He almost screamed. Zim looked AWFUL. His eyes were closed and his face and forehead were covered with dark, sooty-looking purple marks that looked like bruises (or maybe burns…), left cheek displaying a nasty-looking scratch running from his forehead to his chin. Upon subsequent investigation, Dib noticed the way his tunic was torn down the front, how one of his usual black gloves was missing and his three-fingered hand was covered in the purple that the human was only now recognizing as blood of some kind. Further staring revealed the miserable, bruised state of Zim's neck and shoulders, and a purple swelling around the base of the right antenna, along with the obvious tears in Zim's black tights and the green-purple flesh that showed through them.

"…holy…" Even as his thoughts raced, Dib found he couldn't do anything but stand there and look. How…should he feel about this? His nemesis was dead, laying there at his feet. This should be…a happy time, right? He should be running around, jumping for joy, taking pictures of the body and sending the copies in to _Mysterious Mysteries_...

Dib reached down to grab his stomach, holding down the bile creeping up his throat. It was true. He hated Zim. He hated him for his sneakiness, and his teasing, and his arrogance, and…and his trying to destroy the Earth, too, but he couldn't bring himself to just sit there and stare at his corpse. Unsettled, the boy shifted around to the other side of Zim, still staring in silence. What could he do? He didn't feel like laughing, or crying, or even being sick anymore. He just felt…like he should do something. When bad people died, there were usually celebrations, weren't there?

Dib couldn't bring himself to celebrate. Standing back up on his feet and feeling a twinge of something sharp in his stomach at the sight of the crumpled figure on the floor, he stared for another moment before reaching out and, inexplicably, gripping the sides of the torn tunic and dragging the limp figure onto the sofa. Sitting down at Zim's feet, unable to remember a time when he had felt quite so unnerved in the alien's presence, he warily leaned closer and, unable to help but be curious, touched the place where the tunic was torn down the front, feeling with shock the wetness of the purple stuff on his fingertips.

How recently had this happened? WHAT had happened?

Slowly, still half-expecting an ambush, Dib reached back out to wipe the juices on the side of the tunic, hand creeping closer again to touch some of the black, sooty stuff he saw smeared over the front of both the clothing and the skin. He felt the flesh and paused with a gasp, fingers twitching at the pulse of a…vibration, some kind of small movement throbbing against his fingertips. Leaning in, he pressed his hand almost fearfully against the alien's front, feeling a telling…thump against his palm.

Dib felt goosebumps breaking out all over his skin. He held his breath and waited, feeling the continual beating softly but noticeably under his hand. Something twitched in the corner of his eye, and, dread pulsing in cold chills up his spine, he turned his head up just enough to face Zim, watching the antenna spasm against the arm of the couch where it lay.

Dib could only watch as one of the bruised eyes flickered open. He felt…what did he feel?

"_Zim…_!"

The antenna twitched again, and Dib continued his amazed staring, stomach churning and bubbling inside him. Seriously, what was the feeling? Disgust? Discomfort? Just plain shock?

A struggled breath, and Dib decided that whatever the feeling was, it wasn't good.

"…_Dib-thing_."

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

I'm sorry…this is sort of a terrible cliffhanger, now that I think about it o.o

THANK YOU ALL for your fantastic reviews! I would love to respond to each of you individually, but I'm currently pretty pressed for time, so I just want to say that you've all made me feel so good about the direction I'm taking this story. I really appreciate your input, and I would love for any other readers who have any suggestions or comments to please leave a review letting me know! Thank you for reading.


	6. Chapter 5: Disconnection

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Uh…" Dib's eyes were almost laughably similar to dinner plates. So he wasn't dead…but how on Earth wasn't he? Zim looked like he had taken enough of a beating to kill two people, maybe three. Maybe it was just because he was Irken…

"Yeah, it's me," the boy replied lamely, speech failing to catch up to his wildly-reeling brain. Oh, wait, he was in Zim's house, wasn't he? Uh…that probably wasn't good…

"VILE EARTH-MONSTER!" Dib was practically thrown backwards by the intensity of the rage spewing out at him. Reaching up, he pushed himself back into a sitting position and tried to hold his ground defensively, apprehension fading slowly as he actually took a moment to watch what Zim was doing. He was as loud as ever, but he wasn't approaching…

The human paused. Maybe he couldn't? It wouldn't surprise him, what with those injuries and all…There Zim lay against the arm of the sofa, pointing at him with a shaky finger and glaring with such an intensity Dib felt like it could have set him on fire, and yet he wasn't attacking.

"You DARE enter my base without permission? I-I will make your…your death…" Speech giving way to breaths, the alien held his pose but ceased speaking in favor of sucking in air, maintaining his poisonous gaze.

"Um…" Okay…what? Dib stared even more, watching Zim struggle to speak. How hurt did Zim have to be to get him to _stutter_ like that?

"…"

"Remove your eyes from the body of Zim, filthy Dib-_human_," Zim finally managed to spit out, more quietly than before but with every ounce the venom. "G-GIR! Remove this human from my presence!"

"…"

"…GIR!"

Dib looked around, seeing no evidence of the little robot anywhere. It figured. The one time Zim obviously needed someone to help him, no one else was there…

Except Dib himself, of course.

"…your PAK," the boy eventually managed, gut knotting and twisting up inside him. He was trying to keep this as casual as possible…What could he say? What could he DO? He knew that he should be celebrating but looking at Zim's injuries made him surprisingly sick to his stomach, and he wasn't too frightened for his own safety because…well, Zim could barely talk, much less fight him off.

Dib felt a strange pang somewhere down in his chest. He didn't like seeing his enemy like this. He didn't know why he didn't, but he was sure he didn't. This wasn't the Zim he knew.

"It's all burned up and stuff," he continued, trying to finish the sentence mostly to drown out the shaky sounds of Zim breathing. "What…what happened to you?" Suddenly, unexpectedly, a rush of anger pulsed through Dib and he reached out, trying to grab the PAK to get a better look.

"Seriously! I show up to give you your stupid homework and I find you like _this_? What the hell, Zim?"

"Zim is fine!" The alien managed to turn away and avoid Dib's grasp, PAK teetering weirdly on his back and metal legs rattling as a result. "Zim is…is PERFECTLY capable!" Before Dib could do or say anything in response, Zim reached out with his one gloveless hand and swept his claws sharply against the top of Dib's vulnerable hand, glaring intensely as the red, human blood began to dribble out.

"OW!" Sucking air in through his teeth, Dib snatched his bleeding hand back and clutched it to his shirt. Somehow feeling even more determined than before to get to the bottom of what was going on, the human reached out with his non-injured arm and grabbed Zim by the front of the tunic, opening his mouth to shout but pausing at the obvious hiss of pain that rang out at his action.

"…tell me what happened, Space-Boy," he demanded and stared directly into the red eyes that stared back at him. To his surprise, Zim opened his mouth for a moment, seemed to falter, and then yelled out.

"GIR!"

Dib paused. Why was he calling _him _aga-

"WAAAAFFFFFLLLLLLEEEEEEES!"

Caught off-guard by the loud metallic shriek, Dib forgot his prisoner for a moment and raised both hands to cover his ears with a wince, gritting his teeth.

"MASTER! I MADE WAFFLES!" Legs going so quickly as to form a seeming blur, GIR rushed into the room from the kitchen and quickly dumped a heaping plateful of waffles beside the sofa, waving at the two in obvious excitement. "Hi, Master! HI Big-Head Boy!"

"GIR!" Sitting up noticeably shakily, Zim teetered on the edge of the couch and narrowed his eyes at Dib. "Dispose of this intruder! Throw him out!"

"Yes, my Lord!" Gir's voice deepened and his eyes glowed a rare crimson. He turned to stare at Dib, who felt a chill creeping up his spine. Oh no….

"OUCH!" Dib shouted out in pain as he was grabbed by the neck and felt his backside hit the hard asphalt, reaching back to grip the abused area and looking up in shock. What? He was outside? No! He shivered in horror as the cold wind whipped around his head, staring back at the mechanical eyes that looked back at him from the doorway. His arms ached, and he realized painfully that he was still clutching onto the majority of the homework he had brought.

"_Wait_!"

"Bye, Big-Head Boy!" GIR shouted out, eyes blue as ever and tongue sticking out as a little metal paw waved Dib off. Frantic, Dib moved onto his knees and was about to stand up, watching as the door closed swiftly in his face.

"ZIM!"

Quiet.

Standing and staring at the looming green house helplessly, Dib clenched his fists at his sides and ground his teeth together. That was it. He would NOT let himself be thrown out like that. He needed an explanation!

Head reeling and buzzing with increased intensity, the boy rubbed at his eyes and reached into his pocket, feeling for his house-key.

"This isn't over, _Zim._"

Immediately, Dib was on the move.

o~o

Not even ten minutes after being thrown out, he had ducked back into the familiar alleyway behind the façade of his enemy's house and knelt down by the edge near the dirt.

"Come on," he whispered to himself, screwdriver in hand, feeling for cold metal. Fingertips brushing a familiar metal grate, he smiled slowly in victory and hunched down, fingering the slats in the twilight darkness and edging the tip of his tool into the grooves of the first screw he found.

When the grate finally slid off, Dib tossed the screws behind him and peered down into the blackness, still waiting for his eyes to adjust to the lower light outside. He shuddered momentarily. It was a tight fit…Ever since he had snuck into the base through there last time to set up a spy camera, he had remembered the unpleasantness of having to squeeze his head in. Still, it was better than nothing. Dib just hoped Zim hadn't caught onto his last stunt and booby-trapped the vent somehow.

Holding his breath, the boy got down on his hands and knees and wiggled himself in through the opened vent, pushing himself forward on his palms.

"Ugh." Apparently the weird smell hadn't gone away…Holding a hand over his nose and mouth, Dib squeezed through the rest of the duct and, approaching the welcoming shadows of slats that appeared in front of him, promptly unscrewed the second vent. Heart thumping wildly in his chest, he made sure he neither heard nor saw anything suspicious before pushing the grate away and crawling into what seemed to be a storage room. Boxes were piled around, but it wasn't too obvious what they were good for. Except for a perfect hiding spot for Dib.

Yawning, the human stood up in relief and stretched, hearing his back pop. Finally, he was in! He could leave the damn-

_The homework!_

Eyes wide, Dib sank back against the wall. He'd left the homework outside! Gritting his teeth, he reached up and gripped the sides of his head angrily, wanting to yell. How stupid was he? That was why he'd done all this stuff in the first place!

He had to back and get it. Slumped, Dib knelt back down by the aperture and took a deep breath to save himself from having to breathe in the weird stench down there, heart skipping a beat at the sound of clanking, dragging something-or-other.

Biting down on his tongue so he wouldn't make any noise, Dib looked frantically around for a second before ducking back behind one of the stacks of boxes.

"Stupid…stinking…_Earth-beast_…"

Dib was about to peer out before the loud BANG of metal-hitting-floor sent him curling back behind the boxes. Heart racing, he took a breath and slowly leaned to the side. He wondered for a moment if he should even be so apprehensive. Zim was obviously in terrible condition out there…Still, Dib didn't have any defenses on him. He didn't want to take chances.

Slowly standing up, the human looked out from his hiding spot warily, eyes widening to see Zim sitting with his back to him in the hall. Realizing he had to have fallen, Dib held his breath and watched as the small arms reached around and scrambled to get ahold of the PAK, which, the boy noticed with a wince, was still rattling dangerously as Zim muttered under his breath.

"S-stay…obey Zi-"

**CLANK**

Stillness. Dib watched in amazement as the PAK fell to the ground like a dead weight, spinning on its lateral edge as the pink panels dimmed to a mauve purple, as if a light had been switched off from behind them. Squinting behind his glasses, he made out a small, flashing red light on the flat edge of the metal, trying to read it.

'**Self Destruct Sequence Completed'**

He looked up at Zim, mouth falling open. The alien simply sat up, feelers perked forwards, seemingly frozen. Dib was amazed to see the green color starting to bleach out of his face and stared at the place on his back that was now bare, stomach twisting at the sight of the metal attachments in his flesh where the thing had fallen off.

Dib didn't have time to think twice about what he was doing. Leaping out from his hiding place, he scrambled through the doorway and into the hall, kneeling down beside Zim and staring him in the face. To his immense confusion and, somehow, horror, Zim stared back unblinkingly. The dead look reminded Dib of how people in movies looked when they were possessed by a ghost.

"…" Palms sweating viciously, the boy unthinkingly reached out and grabbed the Irken by the shoulders, shaking him and watching his enemy drift back and forth limply. Unresponsive. Brain and gut an absolute mass of swirling emotions he couldn't name at the moment, he reached out and wrapped his arms around Zim awkwardly, grunting as he managed to pull him up into a limp grasp.

"Hngh!" Finding the task surprisingly difficult with his weak arms, Dib bent over to snatch up the discarded PAK with its hanging spider-legs and lamely dragged his cargo out of the hall. What had happened? What was he doing? What _could_ he do? Where could he go?

"…Computer!" he remembered all of a sudden, eyes widening as he skidded into the living room and set Zim down on the coffee table. Zim's computer could talk and follow orders, couldn't it? He let out a breath he had been holding at the sound of the bored, automated voice that emanated out around him.

**…_what_?**

"I need you to stabilize Zim. He lost his PAK," Dib said without thinking even for a moment about the words coming out of his mouth, readjusting his foe on the table and stepping back. "…well?"

A sigh.

**_Well, what_?**

"Well…do something, you bucket of bolts!"

**…F_ine_.**

A whirring sound broke out above Dib's head, startling the human as he stepped aside and looked up with wide eyes. A series of ribbed tubes shot down from the crevices in the ceiling of metal parts and snaked underneath Zim's body, ends sealing themselves to the PAK attachment points that were exposed along the middle of the alien's back. Dib stayed silent and watched as Zim's eyes, previously unblinking and staring seemingly at nothing, closed slowly and stayed shut.

"…" Feeling like he'd just run fifty miles without a water break, Dib slumped onto the giant purple sofa and stared wearily at the alien, reaching up to take his glasses off and feeling the sweat from his hands on the sides of his face as he did so. This was getting really insane. First he wakes up in this place with Zim looming over him, then he finds Zim in his own house, and now this…

His eyes trailed over to the seemingly sleeping figure on the table, whose chest, Dib realized, was beginning to rise up and down slowly. What had gone wrong? He looked down at the PAK, watching the words still flashing.

_Self Destruct Sequence_… What did that mean? His PAK had been set to self-destruct mode? Shifting, he leaned closer to observe the crescent-shaped burns on Zim's closest side, looking at the marks through a tear in his clothes.

So his PAK had exploded, or something. That explained why it had come off…No wonder his nemesis was in such bad shape. That couldn't have been safe, all those fuses and wires going off at once…

Dib felt his brain pulse sharply and reached down to clutch his knees to his chest, resting his head against them with a groan. But WHY? WHY had this happened? Zim wouldn't do that to himself, would he? No, there was no way.

He looked at Zim again, turning away from him for a moment so he could stare at the wall instead. The more he thought about it, the more he realized his nemesis had been acting really weird for the past few weeks, what with the not coming to school, that weird exchange they had had about contacting his leaders…What the _hell_ was going on?

Dib felt the pang of his injured hand and looked down at it, eyes tracing the bloody streaks he hadn't yet bothered to clean up. If Zim had done that to him before…he could only imagine what he'd want to do to him when he woke up and found Dib was in his house again.

Wait…He should be grateful, Dib decided. He'd saved the jerk's life, after all!...Still staring at his hand, the boy watched his flesh turn considerably whiter, blood running cold.

He'd SAVED Zim. Zim's life. He'd saved it.

_He'd saved Zim's life._

Dib stood up so quickly that he slipped and promptly toppled back onto the sofa unsteadily, hazel eyes as large as they could possibly get. Saved Zim…What was wrong with him? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

His mind reeled and he reached up to grab the sides of his head. What if the Earth was doomed because of him? ! What if Zim lived to conquer another day? ! Pale face reddening suddenly, he looked slowly over to his unconscious rival on the table, staring at the limp arm that was now hanging off the side.

At least Zim didn't look like he'd be overthrowing anything anytime soon.

Suddenly feeling like he might be sick, the buzzing in the back of his head returning with a vengeance as soon as he became aware of the stark silence around him, Dib turned over and curled in on himself with a groan, still watching Zim warily out of the corner of his eye. To his amazement, the limp arm he was watching twitched, slowly ascending to creep towards the other arm that rested on Zim's front. Dib raised an eyebrow and watched mutely.

"…" Clumsily, one of the three digits reached out to poke at the still hand. Dib squinted, spotting the presence of something clutched in the alien's nonmoving fingers. One of them managed to push an exposed button, and the screen lit up, displaying familiar static that caught Dib's eye.

The boy froze, realizing what Zim was holding.

"My Tallest…" Softly, as if talking was incredibly difficult, Zim opened his mouth and began to speak, weakly punching at the same button over and over in the corner of the screen. His eyes remained shut.

"Come in…my Tallest…"

Dib watched the screen, the white noise from the static almost blocking out Zim's soft voice.

"Invader Zim…reporting…"

It was too much. Breath hitching in his throat, Dib shakily stood up and left the room, slumping against the wall in the kitchen and wrapping his arms around his knees. This was too stressful...Somehow, even more so than all the times Dib had had to stop Zim from taking over the world. Something about seeing Zim there on his last threads of life, doing that…And knowing that if he went home, he wouldn't really be any more comfortable. Nope. No matter where Dib went right now, he'd still be seeing the same stuff behind his tired eyes. Irken symbols, patronizing glares, and a blaring 'Self Destruct' light.

Dib barely had the energy to raise his head up at the sound of slow footsteps. Eyes weary, he simply looked towards the doorway and blinked, staring at the sight of trailing cords and red eyes blocking out the light from the main room.

He somehow found the strength to stand up.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

This is getting more and more difficult to write. I love a good challenge.

I'm taking a few liberties with the PAK, since the only time they really seem to talk much about it in the show is in one of the unaired episodes. There should be a better explanation of my interpretation on PAK-related Irken biology in the upcoming chapter.

In case you were wondering, I know there are a lot of unanswered questions so far. Hopefully this doesn't discourage you from continuing- I definitely plan on answering all the weird quandaries that keep getting brought up but not explained.

For now, I just hope that it's clear what is happening from chapter to chapter, and that my portrayals of the characters don't seem out-of-the-blue.

Thank you for reading! Please do review if it strikes you. I love to hear what people think! Stay tuned~


	7. Chapter 6: Eye to Eye

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"…what have you done to Zim?"

Dib watched the alien shake noticeably as Zim clutched the doorway, eyes doing their best to focus through the darkness of the kitchen. He still looked like he should be dead, what with the torn clothes and burns all over his green skin. How was he awake already? Hadn't he just passed out? Wincing, the boy narrowed his eyes and just stared back, feeling increasingly uncomfortable at the pained look on Zim's face. It was obvious Zim was trying to glare, but it wasn't working too well…

Dib sort of wished Zim would have stayed asleep until he had gotten a chance to get out of there. What was he supposed to say now?

"I didn't do anything," he lied in exhaustion, only then really becoming aware of how tired his body felt. Sluggish, he warily stepped forward once before standing still again, stomach twisting into a tight knot at the sight. He vaguely realized that Zim was struggling to stand up and instinctively stepped forward, only to stop again.

"Get OUT, Dib-thing."

Zim's voice was quieter than usual. Dib found himself hoping Zim would stand up straighter and shout at him about how big his head was, or something.

"Hey, you should be _thanking _me," he managed and took another step forward, brows drawn into a frown. This whole situation was just wrong. At that moment, he probably would have done anything for Zim to just disappear and show up at school the next day with those fake eyes in and that usual grin.

"I…It's because of me you're even standing there right now."

God, he hoped Zim didn't figure out what he meant by that.

"…Lies! Zim is-" The distinctive hiss was cut short when Zim staggered slightly to the side and was tugged back onto his heels by the tubes connected to his back. Red eyes widening, the Irken looked back over his shoulder and stared at the plastic tubing in obvious surprise, body tensing.

"My PAK!"

Expecting some kind of attack, Dib braced himself and put his hands up defensively, only to see Zim turn around and rush back into the other room. Surprised and undeniably a little curious, having forgotten for the moment his want to escape, he stepped back into the living room behind Zim and watched the other stumbling around the sofa, red eyes darting around. What was he…

"…DIB-STINK!"

Startled, Dib watched Zim shakily struggle his way over and raise an arm with obvious discomfort, pointing directly in his face with his middle finger.

"The Dib stole Zim's PAK!" Dib promptly stepped backwards, not of his own volition, however. There was one gloved hand around his neck and a lot of weight shoving him directly into the wall, weight that was expanding and retracting as it breathed…

Dib choked a little as the fingers tightened around his neck. Zim's grip was pretty weak, but he was obviously putting his weight into it. Staring right back into the alien eyes and narrowing his own, he reached out and pushed back on Zim's shoulder to get him to loosen up. He heard his nemesis groan and, for one inexplicable moment, felt guilty somehow.

"Wh-where is it, _Dib-beast_?"

Caught off guard by the sound of desperation, Dib stared down in confusion and glanced over slowly towards the couch so he didn't have to see what Zim's face looked like. "…It's over there…" he managed finally, staring at the metal dome laying on its side next to the coffee table on the floor.

Dib was freed immediately. Staggering a little as the weight holding him back was suddenly gone, the boy looked down and watched Zim kneel beside the table, tubes waving behind him as he reached out to pick up the PAK. Dib again waited for some kind of outburst, only to shuffle awkwardly at the silence.

Should he go? Should he stay there? What should he do? Maybe he should just sneak out while Zim had forgotten about him…No, he couldn't. He was too curious! He'd come this far. He was going to know what was going on if it killed him.

"So, uh, self-destruct sequence?"

_Me and my big mouth!_

Zim looked surprised. Fumbling with the dome and weakly tossing its spider legs aside, the alien maneuvered the PAK onto its front and stared at the little flashing panel. Briefly, Dib recognized the little phone-like thing sitting by the sofa as well, as if it had been dropped there. Static was still flickering across the screen.

"…"

Dib promptly yelped out as his head collided painfully with the floor, stars flashing behind his eyes. Startled, he looked up with wide hazel eyes at the livid look on the face hovering right above his, feeling three-fingered claws digging into his chest. Survival mode setting in, he sat up and shoved Zim off him by the shoulders, amazed by how tightly he was being gripped.

"Zim! What the hell?"

"YOU did this!"

"No I didn't!"

"You lie! YOU LIE!"

"Get off!"

"NEVER!"

Just as he had begun to sit up, Dib felt the back of his head slammed against the floor painfully again and reached up to push Zim away, only to feel his right wrist pinned up above his head by a rubbery glove. The sound of panting filled the air. Gasping for breath himself out of surprise more than anything, Dib looked up warily at his enemy, coming face-to-face with grit teeth and livid eyes.

Dib faltered in his escape efforts. He'd seen Zim angry a thousand times, but this was more than angry…

"ZIM SHALL SAW THE DIB'S LEGS OFF FOR THIS!"

Dib decided he was fed up, the buzzing in his head loudening to an all-time high. Sitting up and effectively wrenching Zim's grip from him, he reached out and grabbed the alien swiftly by the shoulders, glaring at him. He WOULD have answers!

"What the hell is going on with you? You know I didn't do that!" He glanced briefly at the PAK that sat beside them nearby, seeing the light still flashing.

"You can't just blame _me_!"

"You cannot fool Zim! He knows it was you! Everything!"

_Everything?_ Dib sneered, feeling that familiar angry frustration rising up through his body. An alien dissection table sounded pretty useful right now.

"Yeah, I WISH it was me that did this to you!" he spat out, tightening his grip on the shoulders.

"FOOL! Y-YOU shall pay, Dib-_human_…"

Dib awaited a continuation to the outburst, only to watch as (somehow sickeningly) Zim quieted in favor of panting, one eye twitching visibly and seemingly wanting to close.

For a moment, Dib found he didn't have anything to say, simply holding Zim there by the shoulders and looking at him in confusion as his nemesis struggled to glare and bare his teeth at him simultaneously. Suddenly unnerved by the closeness, the human loosened his grip slightly, only to tighten it again, shaking his head at himself. No. He was going to have answers. That was what he wanted….right?

"…it _is_ the Dib's fault," Zim finally spat, accusation relieving Dib with its familiar spite and yet confusing him with its suggestions.

Huh?

"_Everything_."

"…"

Seriously, what did _that_ mean? Deducing somewhat unconvincingly that Zim was just denouncing him as usual, Dib rolled his eyes and looked away, keeping his grip on the alien shoulders.

"…sure. It's my fault that I'm keeping you from destroying my planet and wiping out all my people. Yep," he replied sarcastically with a sigh. He really hoped that was all to what Zim was saying…because he had the creeping feeling it wasn't.

The feeling intensified greatly at the reply he got.

"Dib-moron! Z-Zim means EVERYTHING!"

Suddenly, he almost didn't care about answers anymore. Almost. Dib grit his teeth, starting to get angry again. This was mostly because his curiosity was starting to gnaw at his insides, but the buzzing in his head was bothering him to the point of almost having to scream…

He decided he wanted to fight with Zim and get out of there. At least in that scenario, he didn't have to think about his next move.

"Will you shut up with that? It's not my fault!" he replied, not sure what Zim was referring to but trying not to let himself wonder.

"It IS!"

"Is not!"

"EVERYTHING IS THE DIB'S FAULT!"

"God, WHAT? Your PAK?" Dib blurted out before he realized he was asking questions instead of arguing, brain running on its usual frustrated curiosity. He couldn't stop himself. Hands tightening, he leaned in so close that their foreheads almost touched, glaring.

"I told you! That WASN'T me, Zim!" he spat back, consciousness vaguely registering that Zim's antennae had flattened rather interestingly, but mouth running off at such a pace no such reasoning could stop it.

"I didn't do that! I came in your house to give you your STUPID homework and I saw it fall off! And you were all…all PALE and stuff!" Dib's brain finally began to catch up. Warning sirens were creeping up loudly in the back of his head, but the words he was fighting so desperately to hold back were already crossing the finish line.

"It was creepy, okay? I thought you were gonna die! I SAVED you, Space-Boy!"

Dib wanted to murder the quiet that happened after that. Realizing he was gripping intensely hard on Zim's shoulders, he lightened the hold just slightly to keep his fingers from locking up and promptly looked down at his lap shamefully.

He really had done it. He'd saved this monster.

Savior-of-the-Earth, indeed.

It wasn't for a few more seconds that Dib managed to look up and weakly glare Zim in the face, mouth falling open softly at the expression that looked back. He had expected an unconvinced glare, or an expression of pure loathing and disbelief, but this was…

Dib squinted. He didn't know what it was. If he had had to guess, he would have guessed that there was surprise in there somewhere, but it was sort of muted. Zim was mostly squinting back at him like he was looking for something he wasn't able to see. Those black antennae were flattened and his eyes looked….funny. Not angry-funny or sad-funny, but sort of…misty-funny. Funny in the way that he couldn't really even tell what Zim was looking at, or what he expected to find while doing so, but it was obvious that whatever it was, Zim appeared painfully unsatisfied.

"…" Dib suddenly became aware of how hard he was holding onto the Irken and let go instinctively, half-jumping at the sudden voice that emanated out.

"…then explain." Zim replied quietly, eyes still staring at Dib with that funny look. Completely at a loss, Dib could only watch as his rival, obviously struggling, reached out with his hands and began to push himself off of the floor and to his feet, the heavy PAK still held in three shaking fingers as he held it up and brandished it like an odd weapon.

"Explain, Dib-thing." A shaky breath and narrowing of eyes. One side of the tunic gave way to a tear along the edge, flopping down and exposing more bruised green skin.

"Explain…this."

Dib had no explanation, and he knew it. He was just as confused as Zim, if not more so…Wait a minute, did Zim really NOT know what any of this was, either? Was it possible Dib wasn't the only one left in the dark?

"I can't," he replied lamely and looked down again. He really, really wished he could. Maybe the buzzing would go away if he weren't so perplexed. Maybe he wouldn't be here in Zim's house having a ridiculous fight about something that didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Oh, what he would have given to be able to follow Zim's orders just this one time.

"…I really don't know, Zim. I don't know what's going on any more than you do."

Again, that terrible silence. Only for a moment, though, before things in Dib's head gave way to that even-more-terrible buzzing.

Slowly, the boy looked up and watched as Zim dragged himself over to the sofa and sat down. All energy seemingly having drained from his body, Dib continued to sit there and eyed Zim as the alien took out his little pocket communication device, punching at it weakly but repeatedly. From what he could see of Zim's face, he looked like he was concentrating pretty hard.

_Did he forget I'm here?_ Nibbling at his bottom lip, Dib reached out and slowly moved to stand on his feet, more out of defensiveness than anything, in case Zim decided he was angry again and went for his throat. He stared and widened his weary eyes to see Zim slide a hand under the sofa cushion, pulling out what looked to be a remote control and pointing it at the monkey scroll on the wall.

What…

"…my Tallest, incoming transmission from…_Invader Zim._"

Static filled the picture that was actually a screen, static that refused to let up or form any image in particular.

"Zim reporting for duty, my Tallest!"

Still nothing. Feeling a sudden rush of déjà vu, Dib reached up and clutched at the sides of his head. So many memories of that static from the last few days…Just like the static that showed whenever he invented some tool of 'real science' that didn't work. Like all the junk piled throughout his room.

_Useless._

Dib suddenly felt like he was going to be sick. Instincts trumping any sense, he took a step back and watched for a final moment as Zim repeatedly pressed the buttons on his remote and on the other little purple device, before turning on his heel and looking over his shoulder. The words in his head were getting louder, and Dib realized in horror that they were his own.

_You don't…just give up on people, Zim. That's not how it works…You're supposed to be sympathetic._

"Uh, I'm just gonna…."

One of the black antenna twitched noticeably, and Dib cringed at the sight of the painful purple swelling around its base.

"…Go now."

Spitting out the last words in his eagerness to get out of there, Dib turned back around and flung the door open, running out into the evening and down the street.

He didn't stop to think at all as he ran, his prevailing goal being just getting as far away from Zim as quickly as he possibly could. A few minutes passed before Dib realized the wetness that was starting to soak his hair and run down his face was rain, but he didn't make any attempt to stay dry. He felt sort of overheated, anyways…

Dib started to get tired of running and slowed down into a stroll, still staring straight forward and just trying to look ahead instead of thinking about what had just happened. He turned the corner and found himself passing by the familiar brick-red building he knew all too well, glancing up at the brown sign at the top and stopping in his trek for the moment. The light from a nearby lamp glared uncomfortably into his eyes.

'Skool'

"…" Before he could think about what he was doing, Dib walked over to the fence that ran along the side of the premises and dug his boot into the wire, weakly hoisting himself over and gazing at the deserted playground, eyes lingering on the small puddles forming over the asphalt as it continued to rain.

He walked to the familiar swing-set and sat down on the increasingly wet, rubbery seat, holding onto the chains.

For a moment, it occurred to him how stupid that had been. He could have stayed…Zim's back had been to him. He could have gotten rid of him once and for all, right? He could have undone the damage he had just done by keeping Zim alive.

Pushing himself backwards, Dib lifted his feet up and swung forward, gazing bitterly at the ground through his legs.

No. He couldn't have.

For whatever reason, he couldn't get himself to want to kill Zim lately.

Starting to feel the cold water seeping through his coat and into the back of his pants, Dib grimaced but didn't get up. It was cold, but not as cold as most things. Not as cold as Zim's house, and not as cold as the glares his sister gave him whenever he happened to be in the same room as her.

Dib shivered but clung on more tightly, pushing himself back further and swinging up higher against the rain. It definitely wasn't cold as his empty bedroom was at the moment.

Even over the buzzing in his brain, that voice wouldn't go away…

_EVERYTHING IS THE DIB'S FAULT!_

Clutching on with slippery fingers, Dib propelled his soaked self higher and higher, staring up at the darkness in the sky with lidded eyes and letting the rhythmic creaking soothe him into a half-sleep.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Bah, I left you guys with an inconclusive ending again. I hope you'll believe me when I tell you that I'm just trying to build up some suspense, and that answers to all these questions are coming up. Sorry DX

Please tell me what you think in a review, if it strikes your fancy C: Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 7: Tears of DOOM

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Move over, stupid. You're hogging the umbrella!"

Dib grimaced as he felt his sister snatch the handle away from him and move it closer to her side, forcing one foot in front of the other as they made the familiar trek to Skool and trying to avoid the puddles that were settling on the sidewalk. It was raining an abnormal amount lately- maybe because spring was creeping up, but nothing seemed to be blooming yet. Certainly, nothing was soaking up all the water.

"What's_ that_ face about?"

Startled, Dib glanced over and looked surprised at his sister's annoyed yet questioning expression. Her eyes, the same hazel-gold as Dib's, were visible and stared at him flatly.

"Oh…uh, nothing, Gaz," he replied quietly, wincing mentally as his sibling's expression became even less convinced. Had he even been making a face?

"What were you out doing yesterday?"

"…nothing important." How could Dib explain? He didn't want to go into the whole thing with Zim and he didn't think his sister would care, either.

"I just…was busy and ended up getting home really late last night."

A snort. "Yeah, more like really early this morning."

Dib sighed. His sister had probably heard him creeping in at around five that morning, drenched wet from the rain. He had considered staying out all night, really, but he had needed his backpack and some dry clothes if he was planning on attending Skool at all presentable the next day.

"…yeah…"

"Your stupid paranormal stuff, then?"

_Kind of_. Dib really didn't want to go into details.

"…nah, none of that."

Gaz continued to look at him, one eyebrow rising up. To Dib's incredible surprise, she smiled at him, catching the boy off guard.

"Were you spending time with a girlfriend?" She narrowed her eyes a little, looking somewhat sinister.

"Or a _boyfriend_?"

Dib practically fell over.

"_Gaz_!"

The rare but biting laugh that happened didn't calm Dib down at all. But surely his sister was just pulling his leg to make him uncomfortable.

"Uh, I'm kinda…eleven," he replied awkwardly, eyes locked on his feet as they continued along the sidewalk. That was kind of a stupid thing to say, he realized. Lots of people in his class were starting to talk about having crushes on one another and stuff, but…

"So?" Gaz shrugged and squinted her eyes shut, and Dib thought for one moment that the conversation had ended. He breathed a sight of relief, reaching up to rub at one of his cheeks.

"Come on, Dib. We all know what's going on."

Seriously, who kept lighting his face on fire?

"H-huh!"

"You know. You and that one kid."

Dib was at a loss for words. What was she talking about? Did people really think he was…going out with somebody? Why? Of course he wasn't doing that stuff! Dib's ears burnt. He didn't even know how he felt about that kind of thing yet!

"Who? !" He asked and stuffed his sweating palms into his pockets, eyes incredulous and legs struggling to keep walking.

Gaz, to his surprise, only sighed and looked forward again.

"I was _joking_, Dib. You're a real idiot sometimes."

"…oh..."

The moment he had a roof over his head, Dib tore quickly away from his sister with the umbrella in hand and ran off down the hall towards his locker shamefully, spending an unnecessary amount of time with his combination lock as his fingers were shaking a little from the embarrassment. "Stupid," he muttered and shoved his dripping backpack into the locker in frustration, eyes widening when the force of the push triggered a precarious stack of notes and papers to come sliding off the small shelf and into Dib's arms. Startled, he quickly gathered up everything he could and went to stuff it unceremoniously back in, looking down through his foggy glasses and staring at the drawing that covered the paper on top of the stack.

He grimaced a little, somehow not happy to see it. It was one of his Zim-on-a-dissection-table drawings, but more effort than usual had obviously been put into this one. Dib traced his eyes over the various organs he had sketched out within the open body cavity, following the ribbed, twisty non-human lungs and intestine-like tubes he had drawn surprisingly unstrewn and neatly packaged inside. He remembered drawing it…It sort of fascinated him, thinking about that kind of thing. Not about Zim, necessarily, but about aliens and how different they had to be inside from human beings. Surely someone like Zim didn't have a heart, but he probably did have a beating organ of some kind, and some sort of digestive tract, too, and maybe even kidneys, or something like them…

Dib sighed and shoved the papers back in when he realized he was beginning to get lost in his own head, looking around for a clock but not finding it before his shoulder collided painfully with the sharpness of the edge of the door on his locker. Yelping out in surprise, he turned and watched the fat ginger kid from his class waddle off with a guttural laugh of amusement. The kid's pushing-arm was still outstretched as he turned the corner.

Wincing, Dib reached up slowly and held his sore arm with his better one, feeling a dull and creeping ache twisting through what very well could have been his squeedily-spooch.

o~o

Dib decided had never been so happy for lunchtime, even if it was corn-and-mayonnaise day. Retrieving his slop from the glaring lunch-woman at the counter and moving to sit in a secluded table near the wall of the cafeteria, he sighed and pushed the stuff away from himself immediately, no intention of eating. He had just had to get out of the classroom. Somehow, even though he'd been able to take it before, the nonstop hours of DOOM, DOOM, DOOOOOOOOOM had turned his brain into what felt like a twisting vat of bubbling, hot sewage. Especially since there were none of the usual class interruptions without Zim there. As expected, that familiar desk had been empty yet again.

The boy widened his eyes in surprise when he processed that thought completely. He hated Zim and he hated how nobody believed he was an alien when the so-obviously-alien boy was sitting right in front of them, but at least Zim's frequent outbursts broke Mrs. Bitters' rants up a little bit…

Dib groaned when the smell of the rancid food began to waft over, promptly standing up and thrusting his uneaten lunch into the trash bin before setting his tray in the box on top. Turning around to sit back at his table, he glanced unthinkingly over towards the other corner of the cafeteria, freezing immediately when he saw green.

Was that…?

No way…Squinting to make sure he wasn't imagining it, Dib turned a little to the side and peered from a different angle, mouth falling open.

It was! Zim was there sitting in the corner alone at one of the smaller tables, seemingly holding something in his hand and wearing that usual wig on his head. Eye twitching, somehow only realizing in that moment just how much he loathed that ridiculous disguise, Dib instinctively stepped forward and strode over to the table where his nemesis was seated, anger fading into a trickling sense of discomfort when he began to get closer.

He could still see the bruises on Zim's face somewhat, even though they seemed to have faded substantially from the night before, and the blood-stuff appeared to be gone. He shook his head a little, not understanding. Why was Zim even here? He had been on his last legs the night before and surely he could afford to stay home to get over THAT.

It was only when he got within a few feet that he realized the alien's eyes were closed- with his booted feet propped up on the empty chair opposite him, Zim sucked through a green straw at a can of Poop Cola. Dib paused. Did he not realize he was standing there?

"Uh…hey, Space-Monster," he managed awkwardly after a few seconds, feeling the shock of his life pass through him when those big eyes opened to look up, watching him with their…

Pink-ness?

"…!" Really shocked, Dib took a step back and stared, trying to believe what he was seeing. Sure enough…

"Zim!" he blurted out more loudly than he had intended to, pausing and trying to ignore the giggles that rang out from those closest to him.

"You're…you're not wearing your disguise!"

"…" Looking up at the surprised human and setting his can down, Zim crossed his legs under the table and turned his head, giving Dib a look that the boy could only describe as unimpressed.

"Zim has the human pink-eye-ickies," the alien replied boredly and held up what Dib recognized as one of the blue slips from the Nurse's office, waving it at him before tucking it into his pocket.

"In both of his eyes."

Dib paused, a little caught off-guard by the uncharacteristic apathy. He wanted to say how stupid of an excuse that was, but turned and glanced around at the completely unaffected students sitting nearby, sighing. Who was he kidding? Of course no one would notice.

"…nice plan," he sighed sarcastically and fidgeted a little bit, eyeing the chair Zim had been using as a footrest earlier. He looked back at the alien and, tilting his head a little, blinked in surprise at the lack of PAK he saw there. There was just the back of Zim's shirt-thing…

"…" Dib opened his mouth and closed it again. What could he say? He was burning to know what was going on…

"…why didn't you just leave the wig too, then?" he asked before he could stop himself and promptly sat down in the chair across from Zim, genuinely curious. "I mean, if you don't care if people see your eyes…"

Zim looked up with that same bored expression but, surprisingly, didn't tell Dib to leave the table.

"Lack of your human head-fur would be more difficult to explain, now wouldn't it, Dib-thing?" he asked and turned his attention back on his cola, slurping through the straw even after Dib could hear the hollow bubbling of air being sucked out of an empty can.

Shrugging, the boy nodded a little bit, supposing he was right. Especially with those antennae…

Dib wondered vaguely if that one was still injured under the fake hair.

"..." Well, this was certainly awkward. No screaming? No, 'I'm NORMAL! NORMAL HUMAN ZIM!' ? It wasn't like Zim couldn't do it. He had been talking to him just fine a few moments ago, albeit a little quietly. Actually, normal human volume was quiet for Zim, so what was…quiet Zim volume?

"…come on, what are you planning?" Dib groaned eventually when Zim continued to suck at his empty can, somehow forgetting about keeping up a strong appearance as he rested his cheeks on his hands and elbows on the table. He needed to know!

"What's going _on_? Are you building a secret weapon and made a mistake?" He sucked in a breath, mouth running off on its own as usual with his curiosity. "Did GIR set off your PAK somehow? Was it an accident? Is the satellite dish on your base screwed up so you can't make transmissions to anyone? Why are you even at skool? !"

As usual, Dib waited for the loud answer he was sure to get, only to feel something like horror when Zim looked up at him with that funny misty-eyed look like he didn't know the answer himself.

A few moments of silence passed, Zim staring at him like he didn't understand, or maybe like he understood but thought he was a raving lunatic, or something. Dib couldn't tell. Opening his mouth again, Dib prepared to unleash another string of questions that had been accumulating in his head, only to pause when Zim reached back into his pocket and took out that familiar greyish-purple thing.

Dib blinked.

"…my Tallest."

Dib's mouth hung open as he watched Zim punching at the buttons. What?

This same old thing again? Dib couldn't believe it. Was he just TRYING to annoy him now? Or maybe to confuse him?

Seriously! Dib felt his palms starting to sweat and gripped ahold of his pants tightly. Zim was just looking down at that static-y thingy and ignoring him _again_! What was the big deal with his 'Tallest', anyway? He knew they were Zim's leaders, and everything, but usually Zim just ranted on and on about himself all the time, like they didn't even exist. Come to think of it….

_"You have no IDEA the havoc my Tallest could wreak upon you! You should be GRATEFUL that they have not yet come and ripped your FILTHY human organs out through one of your DISGUSTING body cavities!"_

Dib winced at that memory, those words reminding him of more.

"_Come in…my Tallest…"_

Dib groaned, watching Zim punch at his device. He remembered how weak that voice had sounded the night before…

_"…my Tallest, incoming transmission from…__Invader Zim.__"_

Before he knew it, they were on the ground, Dib's foot tangled in his own trench coat as he held Zim's arms down and pinned him on the cafeteria floor.

"What is WRONG with you? !" he cried out desperately and stared down at Zim, head buzzing loudly and eyes aching with the familiar but sharper-than-ever dreariness that came with lack of sleep. His nemesis looked up at him with wide eyes, but was cut off from any potential action or movement by Dib's next outburst.

"Seriously! You HAVE to tell me, Zim! I know you know!" The human was all but shouting at the top of his lungs as he grabbed ahold of the spindly arms and stared the alien down, chest heaving. Naturally, plenty of eyes were looking their way, but Dib couldn't have cared less. He was too far-gone.

"You KNOW, Zim! I know you do! You're just keeping me in suspense so I have to keep thinking about it! That's why, isn't it?"

Dib's mind was reeling as he did his best to keep a purchase on Zim, who was now thrashing around and trying to kick him off. His head ached and his stomach clenched inside him. He felt like he could be sick, or scream his lungs physically out of himself, or even…

The human vaguely realized he was…crying?

Oh god, not…not crying. Dib shuddered and continued to struggle, pushed back onto his rear as Zim sat up and attempted to further shove his hands away. The alien's mouth was moving so he had to be saying something, shouting, surely, but Dib couldn't hear any words….

Just that terrible buzzing and a pounding in his head.

It was driving him up the wall. No matter what he did, even though he KNEW the alien had to understand at least some of this, Zim wouldn't fess up. As always, Dib had come up short. Just like how he'd failed to design that rocket like his dad had wanted him to, or how he'd failed to make friends or at least get along with anyone in his class, despite always trying his best to at least be civil to the people who spat at his head and called him names. It was just like how he'd failed to get anyone at the Swollen Eyeball to take him seriously no matter how hard he worked. It was like how he failed to sleep at night, and therefore failed to pay any attention in class during the day. It was just like Dib, to do this, to fail again.

Dib was a failure.

Standing up shakily, surveying the crowd of students that had gathered around him and taking a breath. Did it even matter anymore?

"G-Go on, eat your _lunch_," he coughed out and sputtered, voice shaky as the sobs continually tried to break free even as they were held back. "Just do it like you always do…th-throw something at my head, too. It doesn't matter!" He pointed swiftly at Zim, who was standing seemingly startled by the nearby wall.

"I hope that when he takes over the earth, you all remember when you thought he was just some kid with PINK EYE!"

Dib couldn't get out of there fast enough. Practically a blur, he burst out through the cafeteria doors and ran to his locker, slumping against it and taking deep breaths, trying to get ahold of himself. What was wrong with him? Why was this such a big deal? So what if Zim wasn't filling him in…Did he have to go and make that huge a problem of it?

Maybe he was really just as big of an idiot as everyone else.

He knew he wasn't going to stay the rest of the day, and needed to make himself scarce before he was called into the Principal's grubby office for 'beating up the foreign kid', or something. Pulling his umbrella out of his locker and staring at it, he listened for a moment over the buzzing that had quieted but was still there in his head, not hearing rain. Glancing back at the umbrella, he sighed and tossed it against the wall by the lockers, sliding his hands into his pockets and stepping outside under the clouds that hadn't quite gone away. He didn't care.

What did he even have to care about anymore?

_Zim…_ He wondered what he was doing. Probably telling on Dib to get him in trouble for pulling that little stunt back there. Luckily, Dib was long gone by now. In fact, he didn't realize how far he'd come from skool until he realized he was passing the park.

Turning, moving on impulse to keep himself from thinking, he cut through the park and ducked through the thicket of tall trees, passing the kids playground and ignoring the stares he was getting from the two little girls on the swingset. Dib didn't even want to know what they were staring at. Surely he looked like hell…The last time he'd looked in a mirror had been days ago, and he hadn't bothered to since. That much time without sleep had caused him to go as white as paper, but the undersides of his eyes were still dark like ash. They probably thought he was a ghost.

Dib felt like one. Stumbling down the edge of the hill to the fence that demarcated the end of the public park, the boy stopped and, not at all thinking about what he was doing, ducked through the wire and stepped through to the other side, looking up and blinking as he came face to face with a scarily familiar sign.

He swallowed and ducked his way in, trying to ignore it.

**SEMATARY**

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Again, I'm really too busy to be doing this…but so much fun o3o


	9. Chapter 8: Under Mine

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Creepy.

Dib was used to creepy. He frequented creepy places intentionally, after all, looking for ghosts and ghouls and other similarly-scary things, hiding out with cameras and sketchpads to capture images of the things he was sure existed. Usually, creepy things thrilled and excited his curiosity like nothing else.

Not this type of creepy, though, Dib was sure. Walking softly, somehow wanting to stay very quiet, the boy toed his way over the grass and up to the grey dirt pathway that ran through the area and down a small hill, stopping for a moment to look around. There were a few cracked tombstones sticking out of the ground on either side of him, and the clearing itself was surrounded by a dense thicket of trees, probably to maintain privacy, Dib figured. It certainly didn't make the place any more welcoming.

Taking a deep breath, unaware why he was putting himself through this, he slowly made his way down the hill and into the valley of the tombstones, eyes wandering wearily over the scattered graves on either side of him. Most of them were pretty intact, but all looked sort of old- chipped on one edge or another, all that same gross, dull grey color, many with names and some with none.

Dib was glad it was daytime. He had been here at night a couple of times- once to summon Mortos der Soul Stealer, which hadn't been a pleasant experience but also hadn't been a very frightening one. The other times, he had snuck out and hid at night in the hopes of seeing a departed soul wiggling up out of its grave, or something. Anything he could get a picture of that would prove he wasn't totally crazy. Still, those attempts had been met with a depressing lack of success.

Now, without a camera to record with or a notepad to write on, Dib felt even more creeped out than usual. Sure that he had gotten far enough away from the main roads to avoid being caught, he glanced around for a place to sit and blinked at the feel of something dripping over his forehead.

Oh, _fantastic_…

Practically feeling the low rumble of thunder in his bones, Dib looked around for shelter. He didn't want to walk home in this…Another crack of thunder affirmed his fears.

There. Spotting a large tree at the edge of the Sematary, he quickly dragged himself over and curled up beneath it, legs folding beneath him.

It was surprisingly dry under there, Dib thought, for a tree. Sighing, knowing he really didn't want to get soaked again and deciding he would stay until the rain let up, he reached back for his backpack and dipped a hand into the front pouch, pulling out a little white Tupperware container and popping it open.

Dib often brought snacks to school. The cafeteria food was so disgusting that he hardly ever ate it, and what with so many sleepless nights nowadays, he could afford to spend a few minutes in the early mornings packing himself some simple sustenance. Reaching in, he took out the hard-boiled egg and peeled it, tearing open the packet of salt he had brought along and sprinkling it over the slippery exterior.

He took a bite of the egg and blinked, only then realizing how hungry he was. When was the last time he'd eaten? Demolishing the remainder of his pitiful lunch, which consisted of another egg and some mandarin orange slices (followed by a frosted cookie in the shape of a ghost), he sighed and sat back against the tree lethargically, knees pulled to his chest.

Dib almost felt like he could sleep, but the moment he closed his eyes, he knew that wasn't going to work. The buzzing in his head was starting to be drowned out somewhat by the rain pattering rhythmically on the grass just outside of his sheltered spot, but he had too much on his mind to rest.

He wondered what would happen now. His father would probably get a note home about the scene he had made, and Dib would have to stand there and listen to a rant about how he needed to keep his grades up and behave 'normally'. He sort of doubted he would get grounded, or anything; Professor Membrane, while overzealous sometimes, wasn't mean-spirited or anything like that. He'd probably be more worried about Dib than anything.

Still, Dib knew he didn't want to talk about this with anyone else. Nobody understood why he even chased Zim around in the first place, let alone the specifics. For a moment, Dib wondered if he was rather lucky, what with his father being so busy all the time and Gaz usually not giving a damn what was going on in Dib's life. At least when people thought you were a raving lunatic, they often left you alone.

Forcing himself out of his thoughts when he felt his cheeks starting to burn again, he rubbed at his eyes in frustration and took a steady breath, just listening to the pattering of the rain and pausing when a rhythmic, soft squishing made itself known to his ears. He sat up instinctively and opened his eyes again, blinking dazedly at the image he saw. No way…

Nope. He was totally imagining this. Even so, it was a weird thing to imagine…Why would his brain be projecting an image of Zim marching down the hill towards him through the rain, with a familiar blue umbrella held stiffly over his head?

Seriously? It couldn't be real. Blinking rapidly as if to dispel what was surely an image elicited by lack of sleep, feeling more and more uneasy when the image only came more clearly into focus.

Ok…his brain could STOP playing tricks on him now…

Dib couldn't find his voice when the figment of his imagination marched over and, seemingly very wary of the falling water around him, ducked underneath the cover of the tree overhead and leaned against it startlingly close to Dib, red eyes staring down at him.

The first thing Dib noticed about this freakish encounter was how the blue umbrella swayed over in his direction when Zim set it against the tree trunk. He stood, gasping.

"…that's my umbrella! Where did you get that?" he asked in complete confusion, mind registering a little surprise at his own lack of a reaction to what Dib was relatively sure was a figment of his imagination.

"Zim is borrowing your acid-shield."

Oh, yeah, he'd left it in the hall…after running out.

Annoyed with himself, Dib snatched the umbrella and tossed it behind himself in frustration.

"Just go home, Zim," Dib managed and pressed his back against the tree, looking out into the rain and watching it splash over the grass, which was now becoming soaked. When the alien refused to budge, the boy decided his imagination was being decidedly stubborn and turned, narrowing his eyes at him. He was still in half of his stupid disguise.

"I really hate that wig," he admitted without thinking. He had always hated it. It just looked stupid! Especially since it was so obviously fake and yet nobody else ever seemed to noticed.

Zim looked a little surprised at the comment.

"Well, then that fits, doesn't it, stink-beast?" he asked and turned his attention to his hand. Dib noticed briefly that Zim didn't seem to be looking him in the eye very much, finding it strange.

"Huh?"

"The Dib hates Zim. Certainly it makes sense he would hate his disguise as well?"

Dib opened his mouth but closed it promptly. He thought he had had a response for that….

"Yeah…well, that shouldn't be a surprise," he sighed and crossed his arms, not having the energy to question why the hell Zim was here bothering him when all he wanted was some peace.

"You hate me, too. We hate each other, Space-Boy. Now go away."

Zim actually did look over to him this time, if only briefly. Dib, for a moment, thought he saw that signature toothy grin making its way onto his rival's face, accompanied with a narrowing of pink eyes. To his surprise, Zim looked back down. He did, however, inch disturbingly closer until he was right at Dib's side.

Dib blanched, moving away. "What are you doing?"

"Zim is bored. He shall bother the Dib!"

Dib wanted to kick him. "No! Leave me alone!"

Another step away, another shift of Zim right at his side.

"Seriously," he groaned and reached out on instinct to shove Zim away, only to glance up on impulse and see a corner of the shiny black wig slipping off the side of Zim's head, exposing a black antenna with what looked like a painful crick at the end of it.

He paused, remembering the night before.

"…just go home."

"Never!" Zim insisted as if automatically, looking up and catching sight of Dib's surprised face. For a moment, he froze, only to reach up and readjust the wig, that half-grin returning to his face.

Dib blinked and frowned a little. That wasn't the right grin. It looked forced.

This weirdness was starting to drive him over the edge again.

"…what do you mean, bored? You don't have anything to do? Go conquer the world!"

Dib gasped when he realized what he had told Zim to do, reaching up to cover his mouth with both hands. He hadn't…Oh god, he HADN'T just said that! A piece of him knew it hadn't been in jest, either…

Zim looked up so suddenly that it startled Dib. The wig, having been seated seemingly precariously atop his green head before, slid to the side and seemed to levitate for a moment. Squinting, hands still covering his mouth, Dib noticed that the alien's feelers had stiffened and were pointing up, taking the wig with them. He watched as the black mass, burdened by its own weight, slipped aside and caught on the end of the feeler with the crick in it, hanging off.

The inhuman hiss that resulted caused Dib to take several steps back, stopping only when he felt the rain at his back. Startled, he watched as Zim, now wig-less (the thing had fallen on the ground between them), collapsed and reached up to grab ahold of his injured antenna, letting out a trilling squeal of…pain?

"Uh…" This dream was just getting worse, Dib thought, wishing he would wake up.

What had happened to him? In real life, he'd laugh and run off. In real life…

This felt creepily real, though.

"Do not look at Zim! Remove your eyes from the body of your future slave-master!"

The shout promptly brought Dib back to focus on the alien. Zim pointed at him viciously and stood up with what seemed to be great difficulty, feeler twitching and spasming above his head. Recognizing the painful-looking swelling around its base, the boy took another step back.

"Zim SHALL destroy your filthy dirt-planet, and you with it!"

Dib wasn't scared of Zim's threats at the moment. He could tell he was still in bad shape, and as much as he could yell and try to intimidate him with his words, he knew the alien couldn't back any of it up.

Something inside Dib ached badly at that realization.

'Oh yeah? You're gonna do it like_ this_?' The boy wanted to ask, but couldn't bring himself to. There was nothing usual about this situation. This wasn't kicking a dodge ball into Zim's squeedly-spooch and watching him collapse. This was…

Even Dib, notorious for his dissection-drawings and such, had to admit it would be cruel to hurt Zim while he was so obviously unable to do anything about it. He was used to fighting with Zim. At the moment, the odds would be pretty unfairly weighted in planet Earth's favor…

For the first time, that realization didn't make Dib any happier.

"…Go away, Zim. I don't want to deal with you." Dib turned to look his enemy insistently in the eyes, only to find himself staring at nothing. Blinking, wondering for a moment if the figment of his imagination had finally gone away on its own, he warily tiptoed to the side and looked back and forth, spotting a twitching feeler around the trunk and taking another step.

He blinked rapidly at the sight of Zim curled up pitifully against the base of the tree, one gloved hand on the twisted feeler and the other…hugging his knees to his chest?

What? ! Okay, this was NOT happening…

"G-Go away, Dib-beast!"

"_You_ go away, Zim!" Dib replied incredulously, watching Zim glare poisonously up at him whilst holding his knees with one arm and massaging his feeler with the other hand.

"You walked here to come bother me! Take the stupid umbrella and go home!"

"Zim cannot!"

The desperation in Zim's voice caught Dib off guard.

"…Why? Come on! Just do it!"

"The Dib has disposed of the acid shield!"

"What are you talking abo-" Looking down, realizing that the umbrella was no longer resting against the trunk of the tree, Dib blinked and looked out past the curtain of rain surrounding them both, annoyance settling grossly in his gut.

There was the umbrella where he had unintentionally thrown it, several feet from either of them and sitting in the rain on the grass near a gravestone.

"…"

Dib's head fell for a moment. How stupid. It wasn't like Zim could go out to get it.

"Yeah…I guess…" he admitted with a sigh and looked out at the rain, trying to ignore the small gasps and grunts of pain he was continuing to hear. He wanted to kick himself, this time. He felt so...uncertain about everything anymore. Dib used to know how to act. Go to skool. Trip Zim in the hallways. Shove him off the swing set. Sneak into his yard at night and put spy cameras in all the windows. Laugh at his misery and grin whenever one of his plans failed.

This, Dib didn't really know how to handle. He had imagined a thousand times having Zim defeated and on his knees before him, but this wasn't like that. Dib hadn't defeated Zim.

Something else had done the job, and Dib didn't understand what or why.

It was at that moment that something like motivation went through Dib, surprising him with its suddenness. Sitting down beside the already-seated Zim, acting under some instructions he had most certainly never set out for himself, he reached out and grabbed the twisted black thing, his own eyes widening when Zim froze and turned to stare at him in obvious shock.

"…LET GO OF IT!"

"…" Not replying, Dib bit down on his lip in concentration and felt over it, hearing a hiss of pain when he approached the cricked part. Zim's voice, though raspy, was a lot louder than before.

"N-NOW! RELEASE ZIM!"

"Hold still," the boy muttered in reply, feeling the antenna tremble oddly in his grasp and trying not to look at Zim while he studied it. It looked like it was kind of dislocated, or something, at least partially, since the feeler was straight near the base but twisted at the end…

Without another thought about it, he reached out with his other hand and grabbed the base steadily, pulling firmly along the length of it and smoothing his thumb and forefinger along the twisted part, surprised to feel something inside popping back into place.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Oh…Shaking himself out of the momentary trance he had seemed to be in, Dib bit down and scooted back along the grass away from Zim, mostly just surprised by the shrill inhuman shriek. Sitting stunned, he swallowed and regained focus out of curiosity, staring at Zim as he turned around and reached up shakily to touch the newly corrected feeler.

Corrected….What had he done that for?

"W-why, stink-beast?" His thoughts were echoed by a soft voice and Dib looked down to see Zim still slumped against the tree, breathing noticeably heavily, seemingly more exhausted than in pain now, but still glaring nonetheless. Both antennae were now flattened back against Zim's head stilly.

It hit Dib more strongly that time. Why did he keep doing these kinds of things?

"…It was bothering me, okay?" he sighed and looked away. Yeah, he was just curious about it. He'd wanted to grab ahold of that weird thing for awhile. Besides, it wasn't even like Zim was grateful for any of this stuff he was doing! Granted, Dib didn't expect gratitude, which again brought up the question of why he was helping Zim in the first place.

Zim kept up with his heavy breathing and Dib wanted to shove him out into the rain.

"…why did you even show up today?" He eventually sighed in exasperation, slumping himself and staring at his knees. He couldn't help but wonder. Zim didn't even have any reason to attend human skool. He could probably stay at his base and Dib doubted that anybody would notice.

"I kinda thought you might be…dying, or something."

Zim's lack of an immediate rebuttal surprised Dib.

"…Zim shall not die!"

There it was.

"I am ZIM! Zim is…shall not…"

"What if I shove you out in the rain, then?" Dib interrupted before he thought about it, starting to feel angry and yet not having the energy to be truly pissed off.

"Let's see how you last _then, _alien scum." He looked down pointedly and lost his frown, staring. The alien was oddly still and breathing sort of deeply…

Zim was asleep against the trunk of the tree, green head resting against it and eyes closed.

…aliens slept?

"…_great_." Dib rubbed at the sides of his head and stood up, looking out at the rain that was still pouring down. Trapped there with Zim. Well, not trapped…his umbrella was right there. He could leave the alien and just go home…

Dib immediately shook his head at that idea. Too many sleepless nights in that bedroom.

Familiar words went through his buzzing brain, eliciting a wince.

_You truly do belong on this planet, Dib-stink._

He grit his teeth. What could he do? He somehow couldn't bring himself to go home alone. Not this time. Especially with everything on his mind. Dib was used to talking to himself, but he couldn't bear the thought of doing that again tonight.

He looked at the limp alien. He could strap him down right now. He could probably cut right into him before he even woke up.

If he wanted to.

Dib ran out quickly into the rain and picked up his umbrella, quickly rushing back under the cover of the tree and shaking the umbrella out to dry it off. Looking over wearily, face wan but determined, he grabbed Zim around his front and pulled him up over his knee, grunting as he got to his feet and held him precariously.

He teetered on his feet, having difficulty holding his prisoner with both arms and the umbrella in one hand. Dib made sure the umbrella was securely shielding their heads before wandering out and up the hill, struggling as the water on the grass around him began to slosh around and into his boots. This time, nobody would be running away.

A pulse of motivation rushed through his body. In the midst of all the gloom and death around him, he felt alive, like he had a purpose, like he wasn't just the weird kid who made scenes about ghosts and goblins and Bigfoot. He was going to find out what was happening once and for all. He was going to learn the truth.

Dib dragged his way out of the park and onto the sidewalk, eyes set on home.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

The next chapter's set to be a big one…Sorry if this is rather cliché. xD

Thank you for your time~


	10. Chapter 9: Turning up the Heat

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Narrowing his eyes, Dib retied the rope around the small wrists for the fourth time, making sure his knot was perfectly inescapable as he sat back and admired his progress. He figured that tying his arms was probably enough; Zim couldn't escape very well without them, he knew, especially since he was now missing the eight PAK legs he was accustomed to. Dib had wanted to cuff Zim with something more professional, but the sleep-cuffs wouldn't be useful at this point. He wanted Zim awake, not asleep. He wanted answers.

Turning, he moved back to his desk, taking out a piece of paper with alien doodles but nothing else on it, kicking the wet umbrella on the floor aside. Perhaps he should write out a list of things to ask his enemy? A few seconds later, Dib shook his head and crumpled the paper, tossing it aside and moving back towards the bed. He didn't need it.

Everything question he had had been bouncing around his head for months since that first night he'd woke up in Zim's base. Now the tables would be turned.

It occurred to Dib briefly that it was sort of stupid to do this in his bedroom, of all places. He could set Zim up on the dissection table in the basement while he was still unconscious and really interrogate him, maybe even start cutting organs out-

He saw Zim breathe and shuddered, somehow not considering that option anymore. He wasn't after biopsied squeedily-spooches or alien intestines, anyways. He just wanted the truth.

"Dib-thing?"

Startled, Dib looked down and saw the bound Zim blinking up at him in obvious mutual surprise. Zim didn't seem angry…yet. He merely seemed to be getting an idea of where he was, looking around with those big pink eyes that were still free of those usual lenses.

"Enh?"

"…who has the upper hand _now, ZIM_?" Confidence returning for the moment at Zim's perplexed look, Dib walked up to the side of the bed and watched as Zim began pulling at his restraints. He'd figured out his position then. Good.

"…you horrible stink-meat! Free Zim!"

"Oh, I don't _think_ so…" Dib winced a little at the sound of his own voice. He was trying to instill obedience in Zim, but it didn't feel natural. Probably because he didn't feel as smug as he thought he would after getting Zim completely at his mercy.

"You're going to answer some questions for me, Space-Boy."

Realization seemed to settle over Zim and the alien pulled and tugged harder at the rope around his wrists.

"What have you done to Zim? How did you bring Zim here?"

"You fell asleep on me. I didn't do anything." Dib paused. "…I didn't even know you slept. I thought you stayed awake all the time."

"Zim did," Zim admitted with grit teeth, glaring at Dib pointedly. "Since Zim lost his PAK, he has been forced to engage in…unnatural…thingies."

The human frowned and then widened his eyes. Well, it looked like he didn't have to really start asking specific questions…

"Huh?"

"Like sleep. Zim no longer has the PAK to regulate his brain activity, so he requires…eurgh…_rest_," Zim spat as if the word disgusted him, shuddering noticeably. "He also requires Irken nutrients and such for sustenance."

"Oh…" Dib let his eyes wander over to the lack of PAK on what he could see of the alien's back. The thing had done all that for him? That seemed sort of…vital, really. It was good Zim had other technology at his base. Surely that was how he had managed to remain alive.

Dib winced at his realization. So Zim had truly been on his last legs. He really had saved him…

But from what? !

"God, WHAT? WHAT is the reason for all this stuff? Just tell me!" It was driving him crazy! Groaning, feeling an intense sensation of déjà vu soaking through him, he sighed and sat with his arms on either side of Zim.

"Come on! Say something!"

The words out of Zim's mouth surprised Dib.

"My Tallest."

"…" Dib felt the urge to groan but held back. Another diversion tactic, was it, or another tri-

"Er, they have, uh, reassigned Zim! Yes! Zim no longer has a need for this filthy planet!"

The words sent a rush of something down Dib's spine. Unsure how to reply, he sputtered for a moment before finally finding his voice.

"B-but…you want to destroy Earth! That's why you're here!" he argued back, not believing whatever scheme Zim was trying to pull with such an obvious lie. "You just want me to let my guard down, huh? Well it's not gonna work, Space-Boy! I know you. I know what you want to do."

"Zim's wishes and his Tallest's orders are two different things, Dib-moron…"

The statement seemed to surprise them both.

"Zim means that he is…He is too GOOD for Earth! Zim's position as an invader of Earth has been…" Zim trailed off into silence, eyes darting around as if he was trying frantically to find the right word. Or the right excuse.

When Zim's feelers flattened back noticeably, realization hit Dib like a ton of bricks. He saw that one familiar black thing twitching, going pale.

"Y-you're…they tried to kill you!"

In a moment, Dib was practically on Zim, staring right into his face in disbelief as all of the logical conclusions started aligning in his brain. It all made sense now! The PAK, the static, the EVERYTHING!

"THEY did that! What the hell, Zim? ! Why? !"

"Of course not! Silly_ human_!"

Dib stared at the alien with his mouth open, recalling all those calls to 'My Tallest', and how the burns he could still see traces of on Zim's face had looked when they had been fresh.

"No! I know it! I'm right!" he insisted and leaned back in, watching Zim push back to lean away from him.

"They did it! THEY rigged your PAK remotely so it would explode! THEY cut off your transmission signals so you couldn't contact them!" Dib sank back onto the bed on his heels, transfixed by the incredible way everything fell mentally into place.

"They wanted you _dead_? ! They cut you off? You're all alone?"

When he got his bearings and looked at Zim, he realized that the tied wrists were facing him, his prisoner turned around and facing the headboard of the bed. He watched silently as the alien refused to look at him, staring at those feelers that were pressed down against the back of his head.

"…That has to be it," Dib sighed, feeling the silence creeping back in on the both of them, a surprising tingle of guilt creeping up through his body. Zim still said nothing, face turned to the wall.

"…Zim shall destroy you."

The familiar voice was quiet, but the loathing in it was unmistakable.

"Zim shall kill you. That is all Zim has left to do."

Dib paused, somehow not having expected the quiet outburst.

"Me?"

That choice of words was confusing…

_EVERYTHING IS THE DIB'S FAULT!_

He winced at that memory.

"Why just me? You just wanna get rid of me so you can take over Earth, right? I mean, I know we're…mortal enemies and stuff, but…"

Zim's feelers perked oddly.

"Of COURSE! Zim can destroy this puny little planet! He is just…he no longer has the authority, but he COULD! Oh, how he COULD!"

Dib looked flatly at him, noticing Zim still hadn't turned around.

"No you can't. Answer my question."

"Zim has done so!"

"No, about it all being _my_ fault, Zim! You've obviously got bigger…issues!" he blurted out in frustration, reaching out as if to shake Zim by the shoulders. Before he could touch him, though, the alien turned around and looked at him, striking Dib with the look in his eyes.

They no longer looked cloudy. Insurmountably clear, in fact, and dancing with something angry and upset at the same time.

"It IS the Dib! The Dib ruined everything!"

Dib shook his head. He didn't understand. What plan had he thwarted? What secrets had he exposed to the world?

"…No, I didn't!"

Suddenly, it was Zim who was in his face. Dib didn't have the time to scoot backwards before he was shoved by Zim's body weight, the red eyes so close to his own it almost managed to strike fear in him, despite the fact that Dib so obviously had the upper hand.

"The Dib was a foolish waste of time! The Tallest would still consider Zim a mighty Irken warrior had the Dib not been in his way!"

Dib blanched.

"…what? What did you EXPECT me to do, Zim?" He countered and sat back up. "Let you destroy my planet and kill all my people? Even you wouldn't be stupid enough to let that happen to your planet! Would you? HUH?"

The human barely had a chance to get his final word out before a green blur whizzed past him, heading for the window. Eyes large, Dib reached out and leapt to the best of his ability, stumbling but managing to wrap his arms around Zim even as the alien lunged his weight at the only exit that was unlocked.

"Release Zim!"

The tone of voice more than startled Dib. Looking down, keeping a grip on his bound captive as best he could, he watched in shock as Zim, face desperate and angry, continue to try and launch his body at the window, obviously determined to escape.

The way Zim seemed to be weakening caused Dib to loosen his grip a little bit, only to tighten it again when Zim's efforts to get free remained just as pronounced. Thoughts weighing heavy on his mind, Dib simply held the alien there and kept him from reaching the window, not yet making any attempts to drag him back. Mostly because Dib felt like he didn't have enough energy to do it.

Slowly, after a few minutes of fighting, Zim seemed to become discouraged, still thrashing as if with whatever energy he had left, which didn't seem like much.

"Let Zim go…"

Dib sighed, holding on.

"No."

"…Release Zim."

"Nope."

The human waited for Zim to be mostly quiet before pulling him back to the bed and gently letting him fall onto it, watching as Zim curled up on one side, facing away from him.

"Zim is necessary," he mumbled in seeming reply to Dib, laying his head on Dib's only pillow.

"Zim is needed for the mission."

Suddenly feeling a wave of exhaustion pass through him, Dib laid down on the other side of the bed, forcing his eyes to stay open as he stared at the bound hands.

"Yeah…sure."

"Zim will be called into active duty for a far more significant planet than your puny 'Earth'."

"Uh-huh."

Dib stared at Zim's back. His foe was so much less intimidating when he all his threats were so obviously lies.

"Zim needs no one. Zim is only necessary."

"All right."

"Only the Dib knows what it is to be _unneeded_."

"…"

Dib's heart skipped a beat.

_"This is interesting. I had no idea your...human thoughts possessed these kinds of insights."_

His notebook. So Zim really _had_ read it...Dib blinked as he remembered the entry, the one thing he had put in there that he had worried Zim might find when he had been here last. He remembered that day weeks ago that he had come home, angry at the world, and done some sloppy writing about how nobody appreciated him, and how he shouldn't even try anymore. He remembered using that word, and how appropriate it had been to describe his feeling at the time. _Unneeded._

That was the night he had stopped sleeping.

_"You truly do belong on this planet, Dib-stink."_

Dib stared at the back of Zim's head, replaying the alien's last words over and over within his brain. For once, there hadn't been much spite. Well, a little, maybe, since the remark was obviously supposed to hurt him.

He eyed the purple swelling around that antenna that still hadn't healed. He didn't understand anything anymore. Sure, maybe he knew the logistics now, but it was remarkably unsatisfying. All he really knew was that Zim had to be hurting, at least on some level.

The boy let his eyes close a little more, staring drearily at Zim's bound hands. He noticed one moving in its tethers slightly, as if trying to break free but too lazy to do so, and reached out on pure impulse. Catching it, he threaded his five fingers clumsily with the three and held the hand there, stopping it from its escape. It went limp in his grip, but he only pressed their palms together.

Dib was hurting, too.

He felt his beating-organ throb a little faster at the unfamiliarity of the situation, but he was sure of this. Inexplicably, he didn't want Zim to go, and he knew it. In fact, once he thought about it, he was sure he hadn't been so sure of anything in his life. He was sure of this like he was sure that ghosts existed, like he was sure of Bigfoot's frequent trips to his garage to use the belt-sander. In fact, Dib was as sure about this as he was sure about the fact that Zim existed at all.

Any doubts, and it seemed possible that he might find his hand full of air before morning.

Zim's chest began to rise and settle more rhythmically, but Dib kept ahold of his hand, not willing to let his guard down in case this was a trick. Dib had no delusions that he would be sleeping that night. Instead, he heaped some covers up from the foot of the bed and rested his head on the pile he had made. Zim was using his pillow.

Dib kept his eyes open, for once having something to stare at other than the wall.

o~o

At 1:13 AM (according to his bedside alarm clock), Dib decided he was getting hungry and sat up, blinking when something pulled him back down. He looked down, realizing slowly that their hands were still connected. He might not have gotten to sleep, but he'd forgotten about it…

Dib was reluctant to let go. He almost didn't dare leave the room in case Zim escaped while he was gone. Then again, why did he need to keep him there? Zim had made it clear that he wasn't even going to try and destroy the Earth anymore, so what good was keeping him tied up in his room?

Biting his lip, the boy let go of Zim's gloved hand, sliding off the bed and watching him. He had his answers… Maybe he should just toss him out.

A crack of thunder sent Dib's eyes snapping over to the window. He grimaced, watching the rain.

Maybe not...

Locking the window and glancing back at Zim, making sure he was still asleep, he went towards the door and, realizing for the first time how uncomfortable and wet his coat felt around him, stopped to strip out of his street clothes, one eye on his nemesis as he stepped into his most comfortable blue pajamas.

He shifted from one foot to the other, wincing. It wouldn't kill him to leave Zim for a _few_ minutes.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, Dib headed down the stairs to the kitchen and opened the fridge, stomach gnawing insistently at his guts. There wasn't much food in the house, so he wasn't surprised to not find anything too appealing. After sorting through some slightly bruised apples and what was left of a Bloaty's pizza, he reached out for the milk, eggs and butter and brought his load to the kitchen counter, stopping to make sure he didn't hear any sounds of alien escape before pulling a cookie sheet out from under the stove.

Late night snacking was becoming a ritual for Dib. He often didn't feel that hungry during the day, but at night he always wanted something to eat. Not being much of a cook, he had turned mostly to baking; usually cookies in the shapes of things Dib liked, like ghosts and planets.

Taking out a mixing bowl, Dib began to mix up some dough tiredly, keeping an ear out for alien footsteps.

"_Zim needs no one. Zim is only necessary."_

Dib stirred more frantically, trying not to think about the extraterrestrial tied up in his bedroom upstairs. The rain outside continued to pound at the kitchen window above the sink, helping Dib drown out the thoughts that kept wanting to spring up.

He'd had his answers. He understood what had happened to Zim. Why didn't he feel any better?

Kneading the dough out clumsily onto the counter and rolling it out with a rolling pin, Dib picked up a knife and cut the ragged ends off the slab of dough, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth in concentration as he worked.

Stupid Zim. Why didn't he just toss him out into the rain?

_"You don't…just give up on people, Zim. That's not how it works. You can't just take your anger or whatever out on others. You're supposed to be sympathetic."_

He groaned, wishing his head would just leave him alone. He couldn't stop thinking about it altogether, though. He remembered how Zim's antenna had looked when it was twisted at the end. Dib had felt it pop back into place. He could only imagine it had been the equivalent of a dislocated finger, or something.

"Ouch!" Yelping as he nicked his own finger with the knife, not having been paying attention to the cookies he was cutting into shapes, Dib grumbled and shoved the tray into the oven, turning it on and wrapping a paper towel around his finger.

Ten minutes later, somewhat surprised not to have heard any sounds of potential extraterrestrial escape from upstairs, Dib removed his tray of cookies from the oven and set it on the kitchen table. Hungry and too impatient to wait, he pulled a canister of icing out of the fridge and took some food coloring from the drawer under the sink, mixing up a few colors. Anything to get his mind off of what he was going to do now…

Dib began to swath icing over the still-warm cookies. He couldn't just let Zim go. What if Zim was lying? What if this entire thing was nothing more than a big elaborate scheme to get him to drop his guard?

Nah…Zim wasn't that smart. He also wasn't that good at keeping his plans secret. Frowning, Dib squeezed some pink dots onto a few of the cookies, chewing at his lip.

He was sure he knew the truth of what had happened to Zim now. It was the only thing that made sense. Should he just forget about pursuing him, then? He was still out-of-this-world. Literally. Dib had to admit he still wanted to learn more about him and his race. He was nothing if not curious.

Sighing, making some black streaks where appropriate, Dib continued to let his mind wander, listening to the rain outside. He bristled at the sound of soft footsteps, standing straighter. It didn't sound like Zim…

"You're up late."

Startled, Dib turned around, watching his sister at the fridge reaching for the milk.

"Gaz?" he asked dumbly, surprised. He blinked wearily and stared as she shuffled around him in her footie pajamas, taking a glass from the shelf.

"Weirdo." Unsurprisingly unconcerned why Dib was down in the kitchen in the dark with oven mitts on, Gaz poured her beverage and shoved the carton back into the fridge, only then glancing over.

"Hey, what're those?" Dib blinked as he was shoved over, watching his sister step closer to him. She took a glance at the cookie tray and snorted, heading back off in the direction of the stairs with her milk in hand.

Dib watched, not sure whether a 'good night' would be well-received.

"Nice Zim cookies."

Blinking, Dib glanced back over to his handiwork. He promptly dropped his icing-coated knife, mouth falling open.

Zims. He had made tons of little frosted Zim cookies, all complete with antennae and bulging pink eyes.

"…." Dib sank down at the kitchen table and smacked his forehead against it, groaning into his hands. Seriously, what was wrong with him? He hadn't even realized! What kind of person did that? He didn't even remember doing it! He had been rolling the dough out and then...

Stomach rumbling, Dib lethargically looked back up and over wistfully to the tray of invaders. He might as well go upstairs, he figured. Even down here, that damn alien wouldn't leave him alone.

His sentiment strengthened when he heard a crash from up above, standing quickly.

Piling the warm cookies onto a plate, he poured himself a glass of milk and toted his breakfast precariously up the stairs, heading straight for his bedroom and nudging the door open.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Poor guys…

This chapter is a whole mishmash of stuff. I hope its coherent and doesn't feel messy- I had already wrote some of this chapter before I even finished the first chapter to this entire story, so there's some copy-pasting of pieces of stuff I wrote in the past, followed by tweaking, of course, to make sure it all makes sense. This is my first fic where I had a really good idea of where it was going all along, so I started working on later plot points before I'd finished the earlier parts. I hope it's somewhat successful!

Thank you so much for reading. There will, of course, be plenty more to this story, so I hope you will follow along if it pleases you!


	11. Chapter 10: Crossing You

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

It didn't surprise Dib not to see Zim on his bed when he opened the door. Groaning mentally, palms sweating against his sugary cargo, he took a step in and immediately reversed the action when a BANG startled him onto his heels. He saw one of his failed inventions slide off the top of his mini fridge, watching the latter rattle around on its place on the floor beside his bed.

"…?" Hearing distinctive mutters, Dib cautiously stepped closer and peered in surprise at the twitching antennae. There was the alien, sprawled out on his front on the carpet with one free arm digging around in the fridge, wig on the floor beside him and pink eyes narrowed.

"…Dib-beast!"

Seemingly only then noticing he had been caught, Zim looked up at Dib and, to the boy's surprised amusement, stuck his tongue out at him.

"Zim requires food! Feed Zim!"

"…oh." Did Zim really have to eat now?…He'd forgotten about that pretty quickly, considering it had only been a number of hours ago Zim had told him all about the PAK stuff. Realizing Zim was probably starving (he hadn't seen him consume anything since the Poop Cola earlier), Dib felt a slight pang of something and sat down on the bed.

Wait, if Zim had gotten an arm free…Why not escape out the window?

"…there's not much left in there," Dib admitted as Zim continued to rustle around in the fridge, suddenly feeling a little cruel. Dib hated feeling hungry. What if Zim hadn't eaten all day, or something? He couldn't just keep him here with an empty belly.

_Why not? _

_Shut up, brain_, Dib groaned mentally. This was too confusing a situation as it was.

"…here, have these, then," he conceded in embarrassment, sitting back against his pillows and pushing the tray of cookies out into the center. He tried not to look at Zim as he saw the alien stand up in the corner of his eye, watching his captive struggle up onto the bed and peer down at the provided breakfast.

"…Hah….hahahaha!"

The laughter caught Dib off guard. Well, not in the sense that it was laughter (he had expected some ridicule), but definitely in the sound of it. It wasn't that usual spiteful, loud booming laugh that he was accustomed to, but more sort of a quieter cackling. The boy looked over, surprised to see a smile. Zim looked genuinely amused.

"You have made cookies in the shape of ZIM? TRULY Zim is amazing," he cackled more, the speech causing Dib to realize something. No wonder he wasn't laughing loudly; Zim's voice sounded hoarse, like he was having trouble talking at all.

"Yeah…you're something," he muttered in return and pushed the tray over a little bit, picking up a cookie and staring at it.

"Something _amazing_." Zim was still looking at the cookies as well, like he wasn't sure he wanted one, even though Dib knew he was hungry. After a few awkward seconds, the freed hand reached out and picked one choosily from the bottom of the heap, sending a couple others tumbling off the plate and off the comforter.

Typical Zim. Always being difficult about something.

"Hmmm…" That weird tongue flicked out again, going for one of the frosted black antennae. Suddenly realizing how uncharacteristic their silence was, let alone the sharing that was going on, Dib coughed and looked over at the wall in fake boredom.

"…you never told me why you went to the Sematary," he blurted out, glad to have finally found something to say. With all the confused thoughts he was having, he was only now realizing that he didn't really know why Zim had run into him there. He didn't want to talk about the discussion they'd had a few hours in the past, either. Dib could think about that later.

"…" Chewing sounds. Dib looked over to see Zim all but stuffing his face with his small sugary clones. Zim really _was_ hungry.

"Zim had a question for the stink-beast," the alien eventually said with his mouth full, reaching for more cookies. "So he followed." Dib smiled very slightly without really realizing. At least someone appreciated his midnight work.

Wait…question?

"…yeah…okay," he decided and shrugged, still eyeing the single cookie he had in his hand. Zim had answered lots of questions for him, after all. It suddenly hit him that Zim 'leaders trying to kill him' thing pretty well…

"Go ahead and ask, then."

"The Dib still cannot sleep, yes?" Dib froze when the skin under his eye was pinched again, mouth falling open as he shoved Zim's hand away.

"Hey!"

"Stop sniveling little worm-monkey. Zim only wondered why."

Dib paused and watched silently as Zim again began stuffing his face with little Zims. "Didn't we have this conversation before?" he asked in slight confusion, annoyed. "I told you, I've just been…making stuff."

"Such as?"

"…you know, the stuff I told you about," Dib replied awkwardly, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable, actually. That guilty feeling was coming back and he didn't understand why.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

Zim widened one eye, the other still squinted.

"But Zim wants you to!" the alien replied demandingly, as if a wish from such a 'superior' being overrode any desires had by a lower life-form like Dib.

Dib surprisingly felt a little relief flow through him. Zim was acting like his old self. Maybe he should just show him some of the stuff and get him to shut up…

"You wanna see? Okay," he shrugged and slid off the bed, deciding it couldn't be too bad a loss. Sure, most of his inventions didn't work the way he wanted them to (okay, so a lot didn't even do anything…), but it wasn't like Zim could ridicule him too badly, right? Not since Dib had had to literally drag his dying body onto a table and seen him at his absolute worst…

Dib plopped an armful of small gadgets onto the mattress and crawled back on, wincing as a panel from the side of his malformed laser gun fell off pitifully and exposed the inner wires. He looked up in time to see Zim casting him an unimpressed look, cookie in the gloved hand.

"Explain to Zim."

"…" He shouldn't be surprised. Sighing, the boy looked down at his pile of junk, picking out one of the smaller inventions. What did Zim expect from him?

"Uh, well this one's sort of a signal-detector kind of thing," he told him, looking over the back of it slowly. "It worked at first. I mean, it was getting readings from stuff, you know, like radio waves and all that, but it kind of...conked out on me. I wanted to use it to detect signals from alien ships, but…" He trailed off, not sure what else to say.

To Dib's surprise, Zim didn't cackle at him. He just blinked.

"I see. And what is that one?" A delicate finger pointed at one of the larger instruments. Shocked not to be ridiculed, Dib looked to the pile and plucked out the square device with the screen, smiling a little unconsciously as he remembered working on it.

"Oh, yeah! That's the translation device I was telling you about!" He flipped it over, showing Zim the series of small holes. "See? It just records alien language, and then you tell it to translate it to English, and it does it!" Dib paused, smile fading. "Well…" It was supposed to, anyway.

"I didn't really know any alien languages yet, but I got it to translate Spanish into English once. But…now it translates everything to Russian," he admitted, perplexed. He still didn't get that.

"And this?"

The bored-ness of Zim's tone of voice, though characteristic of what he should have expected from Zim in general, caused Dib's heart to sink a little bit. Realizing he had been getting too enthused, he gloomily shoved the device back into the pile. Why had he actually thought Zim was interested in any of this?

"That's the ray gun. Doesn't work," he muttered, noticing what Zim was pointing at. He wasn't in the mood to talk about this anymore.

"…why do you make such useless things, Dib-beast?"

Dib looked up, disappointment blossoming into offense. "Hey, you asked. They aren't useless," he denied rather fruitlessly. He knew Zim was right. None of them worked.

Zim blinked at him, munching on what seemed to be the last cookie. "Of course they are. Why do you torture yourself so?"

"I…" Wait, what? "I…I don't _torture_ myself, Zim! I like this stuff," he replied incredulously. What was Zim talking about?

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't like it."

"Is the Dib trying to please his parental unit?"

Dib cocked his head.

"Parental-what?"

"The professor-whoever."

The boy's knuckles went white when he realized what Zim meant. Nonsensically, Dib suddenly felt like his cheeks getting hot, the urge to smack his captive over the face growing with each moment that passed.

"…you don't know anything about my dad, Zim," Dib snapped, gritting his teeth. "He's really smart. He does a lot of great things. Of course I wanna…you know, do some of the stuff he does."

"But you don't like that type of thing," Zim countered, to Dib's horror. "The Dib enjoys his para-chuting nonsense, and whatnot. Aliens and such. Not this junk." He picked up a piece of metal with lopsided gears from the pile, dropping it on the bed.

"Para_normal_!" Dib corrected angrily, heart beginning to beat with increased fervor. He didn't like this, Zim in his personal life. The guilty feeling was still creeping up on him somehow, amidst all the rage he was feeling.

"Shut up, Zim! Just because I do that stuff doesn't mean I can't do _real _science, too!"

Zim looked a bit surprised, perhaps at Dib's word choice, perhaps at the uncontrollable anger spewing out at him. Either way, he didn't seem intimidated. Dib sat there and seethed as he stared at the alien, watching for a few silent moments before he saw Zim sit up.

To Dib's complete and utter confusion, he suddenly found Zim right in his face, leaning over his lap and staring right at him with those big, pink eyes that he had grown to know and loathe so much.

"_Real_ science," Zim cackled softly and smirked, leaning in even further and grabbing Dib's shirt with one hand.

"Is this _real_ enough for you, Dib-monster? !"

Dib promptly felt something around his throat and choked in horror as the grip tightened. Looking down with suddenly watery eyes, seeing Zim sneering back at him as he tightened his fingers, he kicked and reached out to try and shove the alien off, surprised by the strength of the hold.

"G-Get off!" he coughed out in rage, shuddering with lack of oxygen. "Let me go!"

"Zim shall bring about your last moments for ruining his mission, stink-beast!"

Dib blanched as he continued to struggle, pushing shakily at Zim's shoulders and feeling his head start to burn.

Zim was really doing it. He really planned to kill him.

"No," he croaked, managing to shove Zim just enough for the grip to loosen for a moment. He sucked in a breath, only to find that bruising hold right back on his neck.

"Yes!" A hiss, and those pink eyes glared with obviously loathing. "Zim will show you what is _real_! Zim shall make you rue the day you were born!"

Even as Dib struggled, he was overwhelmed by the situation. He couldn't believe that he'd allowed Zim to sit in his bedroom with his hands free. He should have expected that this was a trap to kill him. Lungs aching, Dib fought with increased fervor, digging his nails into Zim's arms.

He'd saved this thing's life…

With all of his strength, Dib raised a leg and promptly kneed Zim in the gut, sucking air in greedily as he was released and Zim was sent falling back against the mattress.

"YOU OWE ME!" he cried out and lunged forwards, grabbing Zim by the shoulders and shaking the surprised Irken. Dib was outraged…After everything he'd done for the extraterrestrial, his foe couldn't even have the decency to stop making attempts on his life for awhile?

"You _owe_ me, Zim! I saved you! I went all the way to your base and got the computer to fix you! I let you stay here and eat my food! I should have let you starve to death!"

"The Dib is a failure!" Zim spat back, causing Dib to pause for a moment. Those big eyes glared right at him, their shine almost feeling like they were stinging his beating-organ inside.

"He plays with these idiotic toys! He claims to want to destroy Zim, but he is a fool!" The tone in Zim's voice was livid, but surprisingly shaky. "Time and time _again_, he runs to his parental-unit, his sister-unit, his peer-units, thinking they will take him seriously!"

Somehow, Dib's hands had gone numb around Zim's shoulders. He couldn't feel them…He couldn't feel his legs, or his chest, or the air he was breathing…Was he breathing?

"The Dib is too stupid to realize that no one will believe him! NEVER!" Zim continued, tongue pointing sharply at the boy as he shouted. "You are useless to them! Dib-beast is a JOKE! How could he expect _anyone_ to take his life seriously when he does not take it seriously HIMSELF?"

The words hit Dib like a physical kick to the stomach. Somehow propelled backwards, the human sank back against the pillows along the headboard of the bed, his foot hitting a remote controller for one of the broken miniature spy-planes he had designed. It fell of the bed and clattered to pieces on the floor, beside where he had tossed his lab notebook and test tube set weeks before.

"…"

He had no words. Silently, mouth hanging open, Dib could only watch as Zim climbed off the bed and stalked over to the other end of the room, antenna twitching.

"You shall regret forever the moment you first tried to expose Zim," the alien hissed out dangerously, crawling towards the window and hoisting one foot onto the ledge as he pulled it open. Zim climbed onto the ledge and glared out at Dib, eyes glowing in the darkness outside. It didn't even occur to Dib how strange it was that Zim, after such a death threat, seemed to be leaving. Absently, brain a mass of Jello, Dib somehow did notice that the rope he had used earlier to bind Zim's hands was still tied tightly around one of his small wrists, as if the invader had managed to free both arms, and yet hadn't been able to get the binding completely off.

Dib's fingers twitched, head spinning. His hand felt treacherously empty.

"We shall see how the Dib lasts _without_ anything to convince them of."

A booted foot stepped off the ledge.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Sorry for the wait, guys. I'm a full-time student in engineering and you can just imagine the final exams I've been having lately. Calculus 3 = not a lot of fun.

This is a short chapter, but I think it gets across the types of things I wanted. My biggest hope is that the character development here is interesting to think about. I can't imagine it's easy for these two to sit together long without squabbling, so I hope there's something in-character about them being so feisty ;P It figures that even when set up for a cute cookie-moment, these two will fight! xD

Please do stay tuned if you like where this is going. Plenty more to come, folks!


	12. Chapter 11: Wherever

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

It took Dib a few moments to get used to the lack of Zim in his bedroom. His head buzzed unendingly as he stared blankly into the room, startled out of any coherent thoughts other than a lone prevailing one.

_That's the smartest thing he's ever said…_

Suddenly on his feet, Dib ran to the window quickly and peered out into the blackness, squinting around for any sign of his captive. His palms felt sweaty as he grabbed the ledge of the window, fingers shaking slightly as an intense desperation began to pervade every breath and pulse of his system. Zim wasn't getting away.

Climbing out onto the roof without a second thought, he crawled over the surface slowly and kept his eyes wide. No trace…where could he have gone so suddenly?

The sound of small footsteps brought his gaze down towards the street. He gasped at the sight of the little alien with his rope still dragging behind him, watching the seeming difficulty he was having with running off. Immediately sure of the direction Zim was taking, Dib scrambled to the edge of the roof and leapt off the edge, stumbling as he slipped on the grass and promptly falling on his side.

Seconds later, he was up and running, following the green and pink mass down the street as fast as he could force his legs to carry him.

"Zim…" Muttering more to himself than anyone, the boy followed his captive around a corner and down the next street over, surprised by how quickly Zim seemed to be able to run when the little alien was staggering and swerving a little every now and then. Hot on his trail, he turned a roundabout and winced as a gust of cold early-morning air smacked him painfully in the face, eyes stinging. Gasping for breath already but determined to catch up, he hopped over a discarded cola can and almost paused when he realized which street he was on, Zim at least twenty feet away and gaining distance.

_His base!_

He had to get to Zim before he could go in there! Dib didn't have a good method for breaking into his base quickly enough without the lawn gnomes or GIR forcing him off the property. There was still that duct he had used a few days ago, but that would take too much time and he didn't have a screwdriver or anything…

Leaping forwards, Dib resolved in that moment to catch Zim before he had to think of a Plan B. His heart dropped in his chest when that familiar men's room door slammed shut just a few seconds before he reached the doorstep, leaving a stillness in the air that made Dib's horrible head-buzzing swell up in volume.

Zim was gone…

Knuckles white, Dib reached up and grabbed onto the sides of his hair tightly, staring in disbelief. He didn't know why it upset him so, and it didn't occur to him to try and figure it out. He just needed Zim to stay. A creeping feeling of dread was bubbling up in his gut, sending rushes of unease through his system and intensifying his tremors. This wasn't right…

Zim wouldn't do what he thought he might do, would he?

"…let me in!" he demanded to the door, reaching out to pound his shaking fists on what was actually metal disguised as wood.

"I know you're in there, Zim! Come out! I-I'm…I won't dissect you or anything!" he shouted, genuine this time. He didn't want Irken organs. Not outside their body, anyways. The thought of flashing cameras and newspaper headlines were making his head surge with pain. No, not that…

"I just want to talk to you!"

Not sure himself whether he was speaking lies or not, he repeatedly banged on the door and sunk to his knees clumsily, gripping the knob and trying pitifully to break in. Why couldn't he just have one, one single break in his miserable life? Why wouldn't GIR run out and let him in? Why wouldn't Zim kick that door open and laugh at his absolutely pathetic state?

A sudden gust of air sent Dib's head upwards towards the sky. He watched in absolute horror as the familiar Voot rose into sight, one single, desperate urge overriding the pain, discomfort, sadness he was feeling…

He _had_ to get up there.

Brain working seemingly of its own accord, Dib stuck a foot out and managed to hoist himself onto the ledge of Zim's window. He reached up with both hands and gripped the top of the window, and then the gutter attached to the roof, wavering in place. With a breath of focus, he pulled himself up to stand atop the ledge of the window, using the gutter to balance and another metal pipe to pull himself onto the flat inner platform where the Voot sat.

"Zim!" The human ran up to the pod and reached out, vaguely noticing the alien's surprised expression as he sat in the drivers seat with both antennae perked up. Suddenly, a whole stream of words and images began to gush through the squishy innards of Dib's brain, sending painful shocks of remembrance down his spine. Unable to control himself, he staggered back a couple of feet, remembering.

He remembered all those late nights staying up, planning for Zim's imminent downfall at the hands of a particular piece of technology or Irken-based knowledge. He most certainly felt that burning anger that he usually did when dealing with Zim, but this time it was different. It wasn't anger at Zim for trying to destroy his home planet, like usual. It wasn't even anger at everyone else for laughing him off when all he wanted was to save their lives.

Immediately, Dib felt like his body was home all at once to each and every bruise, bitten lip, and black eye he had endured as a result of hunting Zim, or as a result of being teased for doing so. Breaths shaky, he lunged out and grabbed the sides of the pod, memories and words echoing around in the back of his mind. His glasses were flung off with the force of his movement, but Dib didn't pay any attention to the resounding crack.

"_You_ told me I belonged here, Zim," Dib forced out in a whisper, clinging to the edge of the metal with white fingertips and staring through blurry eyes at the fuzzy green figure.

_Zim shall kill you. That is all Zim has left to do._

"It was you. You said…all you had left to do was fight me. You know, get me out of your way so you could take over the world. I mean, you do still wanna do that, right?"

The wind howled over the rooftop behind them in the distance, burning Dib's eyes as he continued to look up stubbornly. What he wanted to say didn't make any sense, but somehow it felt right to say it.

"Doesn't that…doesn't that mean _you_ belong here, too?"

The human could only watch as his nemesis stared downward with equal force. He blinked in surprise, however, when those red eyes softened just slightly, only to harden again into a look of loathing so strong Dib almost felt like it hurt. It hardly occurred to him that that was strange. How many times had Zim given him pointedly hateful looks? But it just…did.

"You _do_ belong here, Dib-human," Zim replied simply, hand drifting over closer to the control panel. Before Dib could utter a word of protest, or joy, or anything, the hatch on the Voot began to slide shut, leaving only enough room for one more hiss to make its way out.

Dib scrambled to keep a grip on it, fingers squeaking as they slid off fruitlessly.

"But Zim belongs to nothing."

The immense power of the gust that shot back at him sent Dib flying backwards over the roof, backside colliding with the stucco of the landing platform. Wincing, he stared up and watched the tiny dot that was the cruiser rushing off into the starry distance, becoming a small light among the cluster of bright spots before disappearing into the dark oblivion completely. Eyes reluctant to move away, the boy stuck his hands into the pockets of his trench coat, open mouth closing briefly, only to smile and stare down hardly at the roof between his feet.

Before he knew it, he was laughing. Slowly, his head hung, fingernails curling bitterly against the white metal. He paused. It took him a second to realize why it sounded so quiet- the buzzing had stopped, and all he could hear was…nothing. He didn't even hear birds, or crickets. Just the gentle whoosh of the air, and he could feel that more than he heard it.

This shouldn't have changed anything. Swallowing, Dib looked down at his hands and then down at his feet, fingers scratching at the platform absently. Every night was like this, really. He always ended up in some place alone, lonely but always with the ghost of his thoughts floating over him. Swaying on a swing set, sneaking through a park, sprinting aimlessly with nowhere he wanted to go and no one he wanted to be. It shouldn't have been any different.

But it was. It was a different world now, Dib thought to himself, as he looked up at the stars that hurt his eyes now somehow instead of soothing them. It wasn't a world that would open its arms the moment he proved his worth. It wasn't a world he could save, or a world where he could stand up and be smiled at and have his hand shaken. It wasn't a world where he could go out and blend into a crowd, or sit and have a glass of juice in a cafeteria without someone throwing a paper airplane at his head. It wasn't even a world where he could take a walk.

This was a world where his mind, his body and his mouth would never stop running.

Grinning, he giggled a second time bitterly, voice loudening exceedingly as the moments passed by. Snickers turned into chuckles, which then turned into full-fledged gasps of rasping laughter, sending a sharp ache through his gut that sharply shot up into his head, bringing several small beads of moisture up in the corners of his eyes.

_"They wanted you __dead__? They cut you off? You're all alone?"_

Everyone said he was crazy. He wished he were.

"H-hah…who's all alone now?" he asked nobody and wiped at his eye, feeling his glasses crunch behind his back as he lay down and stared up into space.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Sorry this is so short (and probably riddled with typos). I'll make up for length in the next chapter, I promise.


	13. Chapter 12: Somebody That I Used to Know

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Class, your final grades have been determined. You all did _horribly_."

Slithering around as usual, the ever-present Ms. Bitters shoved transcript after crumpled, yellow transcript onto the desks of the various students in the class, weaving up and down the rows like a grim reaper stalking its next victim. Children groaned as they became acquainted with their grades for the skool year, twitching in their seats or sinking down hopelessly over their desks. Even the 'daylight' emanating from the only window in the classroom seemed to fade slightly as an overwhelming tension soaked all end-of-the-year-enthusiasm straight out of the air.

Dib couldn't help but watch the black, smoky trails wafting from the sickeningly familiar woman (seriously, he was thirteen now and she was _still_ his teacher?) as his own slightly stained sheet of paper was placed before him, hazel eyes sweeping down to trace slowly over the letters. He bit his lip immediately.

_A – Aljebra _

_C – Soshull Studees_

_C – Taxidurrmee_

_C – Inglish_

_F – Kemistree_

Great. Groaning, Dib joined the other students and sagged down over the front of his desk, fingers gripping at the metal edge painfully.

An F. He didn't even want to try explaining _that_ to his dad. Not even because it was an F, but because it was an F in _chemistry_, of all things. CHEMISTRY. He knew his father had been disappointed in him more than once in the past, but that wasn't the problem. Professor Membrane wasn't unkind. Rather occupied and often busy, but not uncompassionate. Dib had a creeping feeling his father would begin to worry over him, maybe even send him to a specialist to have his brain examined, or something, if the professor didn't do it himself. The last thing Dib wanted was for his only parent to think there was something genuinely wrong with him. Quirky? Strange interests? Okay. Crazy and mentally ill? Dib's eyes burned at the thought of it.

_Is the Dib trying to please his parental unit?_

Dib tried to ignore the mental echoes that had become standard nowadays and shoved the yellowed paper into his bag carelessly, tugging the pack shut and feeling a little bit pleased when the corner of the paper got caught in the zipper and tore. Stupid report card… What kinds of grades did they expect from students taught by a school whose administration couldn't spell a single subject that they taught correctly on a transcript? It wasn't like Dib got Cs because he was unintelligent. He had just stopped caring a couple of years ago about his stupid classes, and his stupid classmates, as well. He had always been frustrated with them to some degree, mostly about their lack of observance regarding the paranormal and their insistence that he was 'crazy' or 'weird', but it hadn't been as if he wanted them to become Zim's human slaves. Lately, however, he wasn't too sure about that.

Dib's chest ached a little bit at the thought of Zim. So strange, to have that familiar desk so very empty for the whole of two years. It wasn't quite as if he missed his presence. This seemed like a given, being that they were enemies, but Dib couldn't help but think that not liking someone and wanting them dead were intensely different things, no matter how intense the dislike. Sometimes, Dib disliked Zim merely because he annoyed him, what with the tripping and the sneering and that stupid disguise that was so obviously a disguise. This dislike was underscored, of course, by the major reason that Dib disliked Zim: Zim's motivation for being on the planet in the first place. When Dib thought about that, he had always felt less annoyed and more angry; angry that some freak from the stars could just waltz in and start making plans to turn his home planet into some kind of galactic Suck Monkey stand, or something. Not that Dib didn't like Suck Monkeys more than he liked most of the people he knew, come to think of it…

RIIIIING

Anxious to leave the classroom as any seventh grader would be, he turned for the door and managed one booted foot out, eyes widening in horror at the feeling of a sharp grip on his arm.

"Wah!"

"Dib." Spinning around, the boy came face-to-face with his teacher and groaned aloud. What did she want with him? She wasn't going to personally call his dad about his grades, was she? Surely some of his peers' grades were worse than his, and they hadn't been stopped.

Dib didn't have the time to ask before a slip was shoved in his face. It looked like a nurse's slip, but it was pink instead of blue.

"_You _are expected in the counselor's office." Ms. Bitters snarled at the startled boy, letting go of him. "Now. Go."

"…counselor's office?" Dib squinted and backed up one pace, thoughts beginning to rush with his characteristic paranoia that had only gotten stronger over the past year or two. What was going on? Had Professor Membrane already found out about his atrocious transcript? Were they sending him back to the Krazy House for Boys?

The classroom door slammed behind him. Yelping and rubbing at his arm, he sighed and turned around to stare off down the hall, watching as excited children began to pour from seemingly every classroom, laughing and tripping over one another in pursuit of summer break. Feeling as thought he would be relieved to stay at Skool as long as possible that night if he weren't so apprehensive about why he was being kept there in the first place, not really wanting to face Gaz or take the chance that his father was home, Dib took a breath and trudged forward, staring at his feet as he did so.

It had been ages since he had been called to the counselor's office. Ever since Zim had left Earth, Dib hadn't really had anybody to commit any measurable skool offence upon. Thus, his record had been pretty clean since then, so it was hard to do anything but assume the worst now that he was being called down there.

He sucked in another breath as he reached out to pull the door open, hoping against hope that he was in trouble for something completely unrelated to his sanity. He just wanted to go somewhere where no one would bother him…

"Hi there, Dib!"

For the second time that day, Dib almost fell over and into a metal door. Reaching up to take off his glasses, unable to believe what he was seeing, he rubbed at his eyes with the sleeve of his coat and replaced the spectacles on his nose, hands suddenly feeling as though he had left them in an icebox overnight. There, seated in one of the purple chairs and staring at him with big sky-blue eyes was a tall and lanky-

"Mister Dwicky?"

To Dib's surprise, Dwicky almost looked just as startled to see Dib there as Dib felt to see his counselor. Suddenly bursting with curiosity, wondering if he had gone into some kind of crazy fit and really did belong in that boy asylum they sometimes sent students to, Dib stepped up brashly and leaned across the desk, blinking as if to verify that that white dress shirt and wrinkly tie weren't part of a mirage.

"You…but you…why are YOU here?" he spat out, heart racing with the shock still pulsing through his body. It had been two years or something, hadn't it? Ever since Zim had left, he hadn't had to worry about weird things happening, for the most part, but_ this_…

"It's you! You left with those Plookesians." He leaned in even further before backing up, slightly wary he really was imagining this scene in his head. It just didn't seem possible. "How are you back? You went out into space!" A pulse of rage went through him, fingers tightening into fists at his sides as all the memories began flooding back.

"You took my camera!"

"Wh-whoa! Slow down, Dib!" To Dib's surprise, the man leapt from his seat and ducked down behind it, cowering under his arms. More confused than anything now, the boy stood there and watched the familiar face wince and twitch, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward.

Who was the crazy one, again?

"Uh…what's wrong with you?" he ventured and took another step forward, watching the man step back immediately in response.

"Please, don't blame me!" Dwicky replied, still shivering, for whatever reason. "I couldn't help it. They took me to such magical places! How could I have refused?" The man paused and stood up, staring at Dib and sending a nervous grin his way.

"Besides, I'm back now!"

"…" Dib shook his head, mostly at the fact that he didn't seem to be waking up from this dream yet. "Um…yeah, okay," he said sourly and turned to the side, staring pointedly at the wall. He had a bad taste in his mouth from remembering his last encounter with this guy. Not only had Dwicky tricked Dib into thinking he actually believed him about Zim, but when he had finally seen the truth right in front of his face, he'd gone off into the cosmos with all proof of the incident in hand. Dib had never had an ally before, and Dwicky definitely didn't count.

"You're a jerk," he muttered and crossed his arms, looking back at the man slightly from the side. To his surprise, Dwicky again looked sheepish.

"Yes! I…I know," the man replied, a weird half-smile accompanying that stare of his that never seemed to falter. The counselor made his way back over to the desk and sat, peering at Dib over his hands.

"You asked why I was back? The Plookesians dropped me off last week. I didn't have anywhere to go, and I heard the Skool was looking for a new counselor, so…they rehired me! And…" An awkward pause, accompanied only by the soft cough that followed.

"...I have a surprise for you, Dib."

Dib looked up abruptly. Not at all sure he understood or trusted whatever seemed to be happening here, he took a pace backwards towards the door and stared over flatly. Whatever they had called him in for couldn't have been too important, right?

"I…think I'm gonna go home now."

Dwicky smiled suddenly and brightly, catching the boy off guard. Reaching underneath the desk with skinny arms, the counselor rustled around for a moment before heaving a small item up into view. Dib squinted for a moment before widening his eyes in shock, gaze settling on the shiny black plastic.

"…My camera?" Not at all certain he was seeing correctly, Dib took a seat in the only available chair and reached out for the thing, picking it up and looking it over. It certainly looked like his camera, at least, if he remembered right. Not sure what to make of it, he glanced up from under his hair, suddenly feeling sweaty.

"Why'd you bring it back?" He raised his eyes up in obvious disbelief, not quite sure what emotion he was feeling right now. "You…why did you even keep it?"

The counselor smiled weirdly again, looking a bit embarrassed this time. "It reminded me of you! I mean, well, I remembered it was yours, so I kept it with me during the trip. I thought you'd want it back…" A blue eye twitched. "Don't you?"

"Well…" Dib blinked, stomach squirming. This was too weird. Was this Dwicky's weird apology, or was he just weird in general?

"That's…okay, I guess. I mean…all right," he replied with a shrug, shutting one eye in sudden, unexpected embarrassment. He tucked the camera into his coat pocket and stood up, hoping to get out of there as soon as possible. He didn't want to have any conversations with this guy, particularly none about Zim, or anything like that. Come to think of it, Dib hadn't wanted to talk about Zim ever since the alien had left Earth…

"I'll just go now."

"Wait! Dib."

Turning around mid-stride in slight annoyance, Dib winced and found himself staggering backwards as some kind of contraption was forced into his arms by an excited Dwicky. Regaining balance, he stared down at the round device, completely clueless. What were those weird panels…?

"Pretty cool, huh? I thought I should get you a souvenir, Dib," the counselor babbled excitedly, grinning and kneeling down to the boy's level as his bony white fingers gestured at various parts of what Dib realized was a grey thing with a round screen and a single antenna at the top.

"It's an alien signal interceptor! Remember that time we sent a transmission to Zim? I thought it could be a gift! From space! And I know you like aliens, well, not Zim, but…" Dwicky cocked his head weirdly and looked away for the first time since Dib had stepped into the room.

"It…reminded me of what we did together that day! So I thought I'd bring it back for you!"

_Alien signal interceptor…_

Dib's eyes widened slowly in realization, moving up from the intricate piece of technology to face his taller counselor in disbelief. He'd gone to the trouble of getting this for him? Was he really that sorry?

"Yeah…" Dib finally managed and stepped back, excitement bubbling up inside himself as he looked down at the alien instrument. He could feel something he hadn't felt since Zim had left: the hatchings of a plan, of something he actually had to live for. It vaguely occurred to him that the guy's motivations were unclear, if not completely screwed up (if he was actually apologizing for not believing Dib in the first place, why was he so casual about the knowledge that Zim _was_ real and potentially able to take over Earth?), but that didn't matter to Dib at the moment. Dwicky might have broken his trust a long time ago, but he'd just now given him something that seemed even more valuable: an idea.

"…thanks, Mister Dwicky."

Grinning to himself, he looked up at his surprised counselor and turned away, kicking the door open.

"I should have believed you, Dib."

All the bitterness that had been there seemed to have packed up and left Dib's head on a spontaneous vacation. Clutching the precious possession to his front, the boy flashed a very rare smile at his counselor, familiar words echoing around in his head.

_You can't just take your anger or whatever out on others…_

"It's okay! You don't just give up on people, Mister Dwicky!" he called out with a bit of a laugh, turning on his heels and sticking out his tongue happily. Dib figured that he should live by his own sentiments, after all.

"You're supposed to be _sympathetic_!"

Any replies from the counselor were lost to the sound of Dib's rapid footsteps down the hall.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

A thousand thanks to those who reviewed. It's wonderful beyond words to hear that people enjoy my fiction. My number one goal is for the story to be entertaining and fun to read!

Twelve is my lucky number, so I wanted to make this twelfth chapter a decent installment. I hope I succeeded, even though this chapter kind of jumped out of the bushes outside my window and attacked me while I slept. Seriously, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to write this thing…Ideas come at the strangest times.

Sorry if those school subjects on Dib's report card confused anyone. I sort of figure the IZ universe has a lot of misspellings in it (not just the 'Skool' thing), since almost everyone in it seems to be a drooling moron. At least we know Dib can spell 'chemistry' right, apparently.

Also…I'm not Mister Dwicky's biggest fan. He tweaks me out, for some reason. Still, I thought he'd make a decently unexpected plot device, and I couldn't resist the urge to actually have a smiling Dib for once in a blue moon.

Thank you for reading! More to come, of course.


	14. Chapter 13: The Scientist

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

It was all Dib could do to keep from rushing home as quickly as humanly possible, booted feet tripping over one another more than once as he stumbled purposefully down the street and to his looming purple-grey house with the round green windows. In an instant, he was halfway up the stairs.

Dib brushed hurriedly around the corner, coat whipping behind him as he turned into the hall and came morbidly close to a head-on collision with the only other consistent resident of the household.

"Can't talk, Gaz!" he shouted hurriedly and ducked into his bedroom, dropping to his knees and placing the alien-scanning machine still nested in his arms gently aside on his carpet. He had an idea, and he wanted to at least start on it before he could forget about it. Usually his ideas had to do with stopping Zim or saving the Earth, but Dib couldn't find himself interested in the fact that this plan was somewhat opposite to normal. The nature of the thing hardly mattered. Today, Dib felt like he could really get something done, something worthwhile- and he wasn't even sure what his real goal was. What was he going to gain through doing this?

Dib sorted through the littered pile of mechanic junk he had never cleaned out (half of which was still on his bed from before), snatching the translator with a slow grin. The goal didn't seem to be too overwhelming a matter at the moment because he knew the logistics of what he wanted to do, even if he wasn't quite sure why he wanted to do it. Even with hobbies like hunting bigfoot and tracking ghosts, Dib knew he had never been so serious about anything so very indefinite in his life.

Placing all relevant technology into his backpack and hauling it over his shoulder, Dib tightened the strap purposefully and headed back out of his bedroom and down the stairs as quickly as he had come, leaving his younger sister squinching her eyes at him.

Used to her brother's antics, Gaz marched off to resume level thirty nine.

o~o

The sense of excited dread that coursed through Dib at the sight of the tall, familiar façade actually stopped him right where he was. Standing awkwardly at the edge of the pavement, the boy gazed up into the large, trapezoidal pink window that glared right back at him, reminded of someone's eyes. Not having anticipated hesitance on his part, he gulped and forced himself to take a step forward. He eyed the lawn gnomes that stared in his direction, pleasantly surprised not to see any of them move.

_Well, here goes nothing…_ Biting his lip, Dib reached out and took ahold of the curved men's-room door handle, bracing himself for what was sure to be a figh-

CREAK

The door swung open. Having been in the middle of removing his screwdriver from his coat pocket, Dib stared at the opening in amazement. It wasn't even locked?

Not sure whether to be relieved or crept out by this, he returned the tool to his pocket and glanced upwards, verifying that the roof was still open from the Voot's last departure before taking a breath and stepping in.

The first thing he noticed was the darkness. Dib blinked rapidly behind his glasses, trying to get his eyes used to the stark change between the streetlight-lit pavement behind and the undeniably eerie darkness before him. After a few moments of feeling cold and sweaty, he lifted a foot and made an experimental step, coming dangerously close to falling flat on his face as a red glow flashed out around him.

"Wah!" Staggering and reaching out, eyes having adjusted enough to be able to see the edge of the big purple sofa at one side of Zim's living room, Dib held tightly onto the cushy arm and looked around slowly, mouth falling open. The house would have seemed normal inside, if not for a large screen that was now present on the wall above the couch. Around the screen was a border of tubing that glowed a ghostly magenta, creeping Dib out beyond words.

It took Dib a moment to realize that the screen was hanging right where the yellow monkey image had been before.

_Oh, right, that thing's a…wait a minute…_

Dib stood straight, by this time able to get a better look around the room by the courtesy of the red light. He stood atop the sofa before reaching out and lightly touching the screen with two fingers.

**I wouldn't try that, if I were you.**

Dib promptly screamed and fell onto the uncomfortable floor, startled by the booming voice that emanated out at him from seemingly everywhere around the room. His brain buzzed with the cybernetic tone and he shuddered, body tensing. What was that? Did someone know he was here? Was the house going to exterminate him even without its master there to give the order to do so?

His eyes widened when he saw the screen momentarily flash a bright white, fading to a dark purple but obviously at least minimally operational. Automated voice echoing in his head, Dib stood warily and clutched his backpack to himself, slowly realizing that what he had come for might have just fallen unintentionally into his arms. He recognized that tone...

"_..._Zim's computer?"

**I **_**guess**_**, **the voice replied in its bored tone, thrumming out around Dib as if coming from a surround-sound system.

More surprised than anything that the computer was actually working enough to talk to him, Dib coughed softly and took a seat warily on the sofa. He supposed he should consider it a blessing that nothing had marked him as an intruder yet and gone to shove him off the premises.

"Well, uh, I…" Dib took a deep breath, deciding it was better than talking to himself, even though he hadn't planned on having company whilst he got to work on his scheme.

"I know what happened with Zim. He's gone and his…leader aliens disconnected his PAK," the boy finally managed, trying to get the reality of it all straight in his head, mostly. "He went out into space somewhere."

**Yeah.**

Slightly perplexed by the boredness of the affirmation, Dib continued.

"I really want to…know where he went, you know? So…" By this point pretty trusting that he wasn't going to be vaporized on sight or anything like that, he reached into his backpack and took out the language-translation device and signal interceptor, also pulling out a grey, steel box and unlocking it with a key he shook from his sleeve to reveal neatly packed cords and plugs.

"I thought if I used the signal interceptor to connect to Zim's Voot cruiser in space and integrated the translation device with your operating system, I'd be able to lock onto exact coordinates and get translated information in my language about his location!"

**Ahh.**

Dib frowned, excitement grinding to a momentary halt. Was that a yawn?

"…so, now that I know you work and I don't have to do repairs on you," he continued, pleasantly surprised with the fact that the computer didn't seem to have suffered the same fate as Zim's PAK. "How about helping me out?"

**Hmm… **

Dib's heart leapt into his throat. This was it!

**No.**

And there it went back down again. Frustrated already, Dib bit down on his lip and looked up at the dark purple screen, even though it didn't display anything yet.

"But why? I know you have the technology to do it!" he complained, eyes narrowed. "He's your master, isn't he? Don't you care about finding him, either? Doesn't he have to be here to give you orders?" Realizing something slowly at the mention of orders, Dib slowly took a seat on the coffee table and went over the events of the past few days, slowly coming to the conclusion that something was wrong.

"Hey…where's Zim's robot thing?" he inquired, frowning. It wasn't unlike GIR to leave his guard down and thereby allow trespassers into the base, but the fact that he hadn't heard or seen him since the PAK incident was strange…

**Right behind you, Big-Head.**

Startled and then embarrassed, Dib looked down at the floor as if to avoid staring eyes and turned around slowly, mouth going dry at the metal clink that sounded out when he moved his foot. He stared at the curled pile of metal and reached out to gently flip it with the toe of his boot, watching as the round, blank black eyes of the robot swung into view. Surprisingly, the robot didn't seem to be beaten up or dismantled, only…

"Deactivated?" Dib inquired more to himself than anyone, kneeling down and reaching out to observe the empty shell. The Tallest had probably taken care of that soon after they had set Zim's PAK to self-destruct mode.

An automated sigh was heard in the background.

**Mhmm.**

Man, when had Zim's computer gotten so moody? Supposing it suited Zim to have a fussy computer since the alien was picky and often whining himself, Dib shook his head a little unknowingly and sat up, releasing GIR and turning to face the screen again. He considered asking the computer why it hadn't been deactivated as well, but he figured that would create some kind of unnecessary stubbornness that wouldn't be good for getting his mission accomplished.

"So can you help me?" he tried again, scanning the screen and the side of it for any connection panels. Remembering what the ceiling looked like, he stared at the giant mass of cords and connection plugs up above his head. Surely one of them would be useful…

**No.**

Dib winced. He really didn't want to fight with this thing. For a moment, he considered threatening it (he did have quite a few dismantling tools on him, after all, having assumed beforehand he was going to need to do repairs on the thing since his own computer didn't possess all the Irken data he would need to accomplish his goal), but the fact that it talked probably meant it could still do a lot more, too, and he wasn't sure he wanted the cords over his head to wrap around his throat.

Taking a deep breath, he swallowed down whatever he could manage of his frustrations and looked up with his hands clasped. When all else failed…

"Please?"

A computed sigh vibrated the floor beneath Dib's feet, and relief began to bubble up in the boy's beating organ.

_**Fine.**_

Suddenly, a series of small purple cords began to slither out from behind the right side of the dark screen, twisting in a snakelike mass and creeping over toward Dib's leg. For a moment, Dib was wary that they might wrap around his ankle and do something hostile, only to watch as a couple of the ends plugged into the port on his signal-interceptor machine. He raised his eyebrows. For once, all he had had to do was ask.

"Uh…" He blinked and watched the interceptor screen light up, fingers itching at his sides as he looked up at the large screen on the wall, which was currently also lit.

"All right, Computer," he stated, hands clicking over the small instrument plugged with wires and hunching over in preparation for a night of extreme concentration.

"Let's see what you can do…"

However many hours passed as he worked, Dib hadn't the slightest idea. Curled on the sofa and facing the screen, the boy typed and typed constantly at lightening speed, doing his best to recall all the hacking tips and tricks he had accumulated as he navigated the Computer system and overcame security barriers and such. As he worked at the master keyboard under the monitor, he kept his hazel eyes glued to the happenings on the screen, stopping only to wipe sweat from his brow and once to inhale a chocolate bar he discovered in his coat pocket. When he felt his throat begin to go parched, he fought it off for as long as possible before an accidental sneeze sent him spiraling into a coughing fit, throat protesting each and every stretch of muscle as he was forced to curl back against the couch. Just as he managed to quiet…

**Signal successfully acquired. Connecting to remote link.**

Dib's heart jumped into his throat as he sat up suddenly, regretting the motion that sent a firework-like explosion of pops and cracks down his previously hunched spine. He stared up at the monitor, which (thanks to some tweaking of the translation device) now displayed lines and lines of both the English and the Irken language. Each line flashed as it was translated and readable numbers and words appeared. Dib's palms began to sweat.

_C'mon, please work, please wor-_

**Remote link established. **

He could have fainted. Leaping to his feet again, not at all bothered by the fact that both his legs seemed to be asleep from the hours of sitting, the boy clutched ahold of his translation decide stolidly, peering up at the bright screen as he shifted from foot to foot in excitement.

"C-Computer!" he eventually managed, ignoring the familiar sigh. "Determine coordinates for location of remote link!"

**I don't **_**want**_** to.**

Dib's enthusiasm was barely dampened. He was just so happy. For once, he had done something _right, _all on his own. He'd thought of it himself, executed it perfectly, gotten the information he needed to get. His plan was actually a success!

"Please! Just do this and I'll leave you alone for the rest of today, I promise!"

A moment of silence passed, followed by a series of small beeps and a flash of an image on the screen. Dib watched the display, noticing a large photograph of what appeared to be some kind of purple-blue planet sitting amongst the cosmos.

**Location of Voot runner 29822: Planet Rot.**

**Planet status: To be acquired.**

"Planet Rot," Dib echoed in amazement, staring at the swirling, greenish clouds that circled and moved around the surface of the globe. So THIS was where Zim was? But why? Surely he had a purpose for going to that particular planet. Dib was certain that his rival had gotten some satisfaction out of leaving Dib so suddenly without anyone to try to expose or any opportunity to build the credibility he had sought for years, but surely that didn't have anything to do with Planet Rot.

Zim had to have had some reason for going there, but what could it be? The little alien was certainly in some kind of galactic exile, at least, if Dib understood things correctly, so could he really be there on a mission? What other reason could he have had to leave? Why not stay where he was, on Earth?

_Horrible weather we're having on your filthy, human planet._

Dib bit his lip bitterly, thinking to himself sarcastically. Maybe Zim just hated the rain and had decided to find somewhere less wet.

As if on cue, a crash of thunder rang out behind him, startling Dib off of the couch again. Catching his breath, he turned and gazed out through the pink glass of the window, ears relaxing at the softer sound of rain pattering down upon it outside. In that moment, Dib realized he wasn't really sure where to go from here; so he knew where Zim was. Big deal. What was he going to do about it?

Dib gazed warily over at the computer screen, glad to see it was still running. Something told him he wasn't going to have any success going anywhere that night, whether that 'anywhere' was the comfort of his bedroom at home or the cold stretches of space. His heart began to beat a bit faster as he began to consider seriously the most sensible course of action, eyes diverting momentarily from the screen on the wall. Now that he knew where Zim was…

"Computer? Does Zim have any extra space ships anywhere?" he asked, a little surprised by the shakiness of his voice.

As Dib should have predicted, another sigh.

**An escape pod in the attic,** Computer replied, sounding rather like someone who had been woken up from a comfortable sleep.

Escape pod. That was it. If Dib was going to find Zim, he had to plan his trip carefully, and make sure he had Rot's coordinates before heading off. A sudden and painful ache in his brain caused him to lean back against the cushions, the prospect of thinking all this through tomorrow seeming incredibly inviting.

Dib felt his throat ache and stood, waving slightly on his still-asleep feet as the thunder brought his attention back to his current location. Nope, he wasn't going anywhere tonight. In fact, since nobody really lived here anymore…Maybe nobody would mind if he raided the fridge?

"Thanks, Computer…" Keeping his promise not to bother the technology any further, he walked stiffly into the kitchen. He really needed a drink. Come to think of it, if he was going to spend the night…Blankets would be nice too.

About five minutes later, Dib found himself curled on the sofa under a thick black cover he had found stuffed in a closet, a mug of hot chocolate milk in his hand and glasses sat on the coffee table. Computer, seemingly having taken advantage of Dib's promise, seemed to have powered down, since the screen had reached a complete blackness void of any images or even static. The result was a dark, dark room, lit only by the maroon tubing that glowed on the ceiling and around the edge of the black screen. Setting his drink aside, the human curled in on himself and faced the cushions, listening to the pounding of the rain outside.

He supposed he should get used to the noise now. Out in space…It was certain to be quiet, right?

Dib paused at that thought, unable to help but smile just a little bit.

Well, maybe not if Zim was in it.

Eyes twitching with that familiar, unsatisfied fatigue, Dib lowered his lids and stared blurrily at the sofa fibers. Like usual, he was sure he wouldn't get much sleep, if any, especially when he thought about just how much preparation was required the next morning. Nope, definitely no sleep for…for…

The sound of soft snoring was the only noise in the room.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

I freaking love sleepy Dib. *heart heart heart*

Thank you. Oh so much more to come.


	15. Chapter 14: Only Human

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Okay…" One pencil behind his ear and another in his hand, Dib rested against the cold metallic side of the pod and checked off requirement after requirement, occasionally popping his head in through the small pod hatch to ensure each item on the list had made its way inside. Breathing level, he ticked his way down the paper methodically, murmuring each item to himself as he crossed it off.

"Extra water: Check. Taser: Check. Alien Sleepcuffs…" For a final time, Dib poked his head into the pod and rustled about, finding the last item on his list and crossing it off with his tongue stuck out in focus.

_Check._

When Dib stood up and took a look at the pod he was to make his escape in, the reality hit him like something heavy and painful right to the head. He stumbled slightly and clutched at the wall of the ship for support, hazel eyes large behind his glasses. The sweat was beginning to trickle down his neck, down the collar of the white spacesuit he was already wearing and along his spine.

This was actually happening.

His plan was manifesting itself before his eyes. For the past two days he had been living at Zim's abandoned base, feeding off what snacks were still there in the alien's absence and utilizing his Computer to plan his space endeavor. Using Computer's vast intelligence of outer space to his advantage, he had calculated that the duration of a journey between Earth and Planet Rot at the pod's top speed was, surprisingly, only about thirteen hours. Thus, wanting plenty of extra time to go through with the actual plan, he had stocked the space pod with all the necessary vitals for about two weeks off Earth: food, water, extra clothing and shoes. He had also located and packed away some small weaponry that the alien had left behind, including what looked like a laser gun (Dib was too nervous about its possible Earth-destroying capabilities to attempt to validate his theory), and a packet of what Computer had identified as explosives. Dib didn't want to go out into deep space without some form of defense, after all; if a race as destructive as the Irkens made its home in the cosmos, who knew what else could be out there?

Managing to get ahold of his thoughts after a few minutes of deep breathing and staring, resisting the urge to give into the obsessive compulsive desire to scan over his list of supplies a fourth time, Dib stood on his feet and reached out to press a purple button on the wall nearby, allowing the platform to lower itself into the sitting room of the base. He had one more thing to do before he left, and he could feel his nerves creeping up on him at the thought of it.

Approaching the corner of the room, Dib reached out for the telephone and dialed one of the only numbers he knew by heart, feeling both relief and a little trepidation at the familiar voice that answered.

"_Hello?"_

"…hey Gaz," Dib replied, smiling a little at the characteristic boredness that rang across the line.

"Dib."

"Yeah, it's me." Swallowing, Dib took a breath, knowing he had to speak soon or she would likely hang up and go back to her Gameslave.

"Listen. I'm…gonna go away for awhile, okay?" he told her, wiping a sweaty palm on the outside of his space attire. "I'll be back in a week or two, I promise."

A momentary pause. Dib had expected it; even with all of his paranormal exploits in the past, he almost always made it to skool on weekdays and home on the weekends. It wasn't like Dib to go away for long amounts of ti-

"Dad wants to put you in summer Skool."

Dib's mouth fell open.

"…Summer Skool?"

"Uh-huh," his sister's gravelly voice carried over the phone.

"He got your report card. You are so screwed."

Realization sinking in, Dib closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed the building sweat from his forehead. He should have expected this; his Dad was probably concerned about what that **F** could possibly reflect regarding Dib's supposedly precarious mental state. Still, he wasn't planning to stay long enough to have to try and make up for a stupid grade. That could wait. This had to be done now.

"…Is Dad home now?" he asked.

"Nope."

"Good. Tell him I'm off…" Dib had to think for a moment. He didn't want his Dad to know where he was really going, or to worry about him any further, heaven forbid.

"…You know, hunting Bigfoot or something. Just make something up, okay? Something…believable." He took a breath, really hoping that Gaz would help him out. He needed to do this; he couldn't afford to sit in that lonely bedroom day in and day out anymore without any way to satisfy that burning need inside him, the flame that utterly refused to snuff itself out.

_Zim shall not die!_

Dib winced at that recollection. Well, Zim's memory certainly wouldn't…

"Please?"

"All right."

The promptness of the reply surprised Dib. He had expected time for an eye-roll, or a standard insult, or something, but it seemed his sister was on board. Swallowing dryly, he rubbed at one of his eyes briefly and smiled, trying his hardest not to acknowledge that what he was about to say might turn out to be a lie.

"…thanks, Gaz. I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

The dial tone sounded, and Dib hung up, sure that his sister had already left to pick up whatever game she had left off. Immensely relieved, he turned back around and made his way back to the pod. He reached to the side and secured the glass helmet over his head, briefly recalling the last time he'd worn it while out in space on Mercury, chasing Zim through the asteroid belt in an inter-planetary race. The boy glanced at his new method of transportation, observing the steely grey exterior of the pod for a final time, the green glass window on the hatch. Wincing, he shook his head and climbed into the pod before his resolve could crumble, pulling the hatch shut behind him and taking a deep breath.

"…Pod Intelligence System. Respond."

An automated voice much like Computer's beeped out from the control panel.

"_Intelligence System Responsive."_

Dib reached out for the small keyboard before his knees, curled a bit in the starchy grey seat. Obviously this ship was designed for a small Irken; he found himself a bit uncomfortable in his chair, mostly because his legs were a bit cramped beneath the dashboard. A sharp poke through the seat to his back reminded him that his discomfort might be the result of over-packing, but he didn't want to take any chances on his own life. If his father had taught him anything about outer space, it was that aliens didn't exist, and that the vitals for human life existed nowhere but on planet Earth.

Dib was ready to believe one of those things was true.

"All right. System, set ship coordinates for Planet Rot," he ordered, quickly buckling himself into the chair and holding awkwardly onto the steering apparatus.

"_Coordinates set."_

His knuckles went white with anticipation. Well, here went nothing…

"Erm….blast off?"

A clamp of hinges, a whoosh of air, and the painful slam of glass against Dib's head sent the suddenly spiraling world into a complete and utter blackout.

o~o

"…OW!"

The moment Dib managed to wrench his heavy lids up, a searing sensation thrust its way into his brain and thrummed behind his eyes. Groaning and curling in his seat, he squinted again and took a moment just to breathe, trying to remember where he was and what was going on. He had already been in the pod…Had something gone wrong? Had he never taken off?

Dreading the prospect of being stuck on his home planet in a faulty escape ship, wondering what kind of repairs it might need and what kind of malfunction could have caused him to lose consciousness anyways, he slowly opened his eyes again and paused, body going limp.

Stars rushed past his vision, sparking a light throbbing pain in his head that was immediately overridden by awe. Reaching out, forgetting he was belted in, the human reached for the window and touched at the glass with his gloved hands, gazing out into the dark expanse that shot past with every moment and yet never seemed displaced. Dib swallowed, watching in amazement as the stars shot off into the distance and vanished, only to be immediately be replaced by more.

He hadn't realized the last time he had been in space just how vast everything was. It was if he was staring into nothing at all, nothing but blackness populated only by evanescent little sparks. He vaguely imagined what it would be like to be suspended out there alone without a ship, and shuddered. It was like he could feel the coldness sinking into his bones.

The more he stared, the less certain he was about what emotion he was feeling. In one way, this loneliness and darkness wasn't at all different from what he felt on the inside of his bedroom on Earth, particularly since most of Dib's sleepless nights consisted of staring out the window and up at the stars that were currently shooting past him at the speed of light. However, as lonesome as he could have felt alone in a cramped pod shooting through the cold stretches of deep space, he figured he was…surprisingly happy and content. For once in the last few years, he wasn't conflicted or confused. He knew what he wanted and what he was doing.

He was going to find Zim.

Dib had always been sure of his goals in life whenever Zim was around; he couldn't leave Zim to take over Earth, after all. Dib's uncertainties about the paranormal had gone straight out the window the moment he knew he actually had a real alien to hunt down. Zim was a validation that he was right, that it was everyone else who was ignorant. As much as he abhorred Zim's guts (and had wanted to yank them out of him on more than one occasion), he had to admit that having something real to hate had put more smiles on his face than it had frowns.

And yet, sitting there in the pod staring out at the stars that flicked past, Dib found he wasn't smiling at all. He blinked and looked down at his feet, pulling them up from under the dashboard and sitting cross-legged in the rather lumpy seat. He had been so excited in his planning, but the reality of the situation was starting to sink in...What if he couldn't find Zim? If Dib landed on Planet Rot and Zim had already gone, Dib knew he probably wouldn't have any way to track him down. The entire trip would amount to a total waste of planning and emotion.

_Oh god…not this again…_ Dib reached up to wipe his eyes and blinked when his hand smacked against the glass of his space helmet. Feeling stupid, he sighed and looked up at the small screen above the dashboard.

"How long until we arrive at Planet Rot?" he asked, suddenly too exhausted to deal with technical language.

"_Planet Rot arrival scheduled in one hour, eighteen minutes._"

Dib's heart fluttered. He was getting close. For the first time in years, his constant running was getting him closer to something he wanted. In less than a couple of hours, he would be right on the surface of some strange alien planet the nature of which he knew very little. Dib had done what research he could with the intelligence database in Zim's computer. He had learned that Rot had a similar atmospheric composition to Earth, which had only surprised him somewhat; it made sense that Zim would want to go to a place where he felt comfortable, and considering that Zim seemed to have operated pretty normally on Earth, this similarity didn't shock Dib too greatly. He still found it pretty amazing, though, that a planet besides Earth that could support life was not just out there, but only a few hours away (at least, with Irken ship-speed taken into account).

Dib couldn't help but chuckle bitterly, remembering his father's words about aliens and their existence in the universe. Suddenly feeling as though he had just swallowed a very distasteful pill, a sharp squirm making itself known in his belly, he sighed and stared hardly at the stars through the single green window, reaching out, almost feeling like he could touch them and hold them in his hands.

"Sorry, Dad."

For some amount of time Dib hadn't bothered to keep track of, the boy curled in his seat and kept his eyes closed, trying to stop the thought processes for just a few minutes. He had last slept that night a few days prior when he had passed out unintentionally on Zim's couch, not counting the being knocked out earlier. While two sleepless nights obviously shouldn't have made the difference on Dib's brain that the weeks of wide-awake-ness the year prior had, he had to accept that he didn't feel very rested. He had been thinking for too long, thinking in the day and dreaming vivid, complex visions every night ever since Zim had left Earth all that time ago. His mind was always running, running frantically, really, as he wondered how to remedy the situation, or if he should even attempt to do so at all. Once it was clear that Zim seemed to have actually left the planet altogether, the harsh realization had come to Dib that Earth was, for the moment, safe. Safe from the Irken race, anyways.

The moment that thought had entered his brain, Dib had felt like two people: one who wanted to stand up and cheer, and another who felt like he really, really needed to throw up.

With few exceptions, the latter had overtaken the former. Any small victory Dib might have had on a daily basis (such as being called 'crazy kid' rather than 'crazy alien-hunter kid') quickly became insignificant to combat Dib's increasing anxiety. Within a matter of days of staring at that empty desk, he had began to feel a terror that he couldn't remember ever having felt before. As all his classmates stared straight ahead at the board, unfazed by Zim's disappearance, Dib had begun to confront the horrifying prospect that Zim may never have been there at all.

As sure as Dib had been of himself in the past, it had been a battle not to let himself be convinced that he really was just as insane as everyone else claimed he was.

Dib hadn't let that get to him, though, and he wasn't going to think about it now. Zim's base was there. Zim's Computer was there. Zim's robot, while deactivated, was there. The human wasn't going to allow everyone around him to convince him that he was wrong about Zim. He had seen him without that stupid disguise on. He had been in his base. He had…tied his wrists up and fed him cookies.

Dib almost felt like he was blushing. Yeah, Zim was real, all right.

"_Irken Voot Runner ID Number 29822 Located. Permission to land within close coordinates?"_

Jumping in his seat and subsequently smacking his helmet against the roof of the pod, Dib groaned, only to look up in amazement when the automated words registered in his mind. Voot Runner Located…He remembered that ID number! The pod had to have detected Zim's ship nearby!

"Yeah…go ahead."

"_Landing sequence initiated._"

This time, Dib was prepared. Reaching out, he grabbed ahold of his seat and clung on tightly, hearing that familiar whoosh and squeezing his eyes shut as he steeled himself.

His head began to rush. Sucking in as much oxygen with each passing breath as possible, vaguely aware of the moisture gathering on the glass of his helmet when his cheek rubbed against it, he tightened his grip on the chair, slow confusion settling in his chest when the rushing feeling began to die down before stopping altogether. After a few apprehensive moments, he peeked over his shoulder at the screen above the dashboard, mouth opening at the text he saw there.

_Planet Rot arrival time: 13:45_

"_Landing sequence complete._"

Blinking, Dib sat up and turned to glance out the window. His jaw dropped. He could see light, furry things that sort of looked like trees, a sky that looked sort of purple-grey. Nearly unable to believe that he was already there (and even more surprised that the landing had gone so much more smoothly than the takeoff), he reached up for his space helmet and quickly undid the straps on either side of it, pulling it off with a gasp for air.

Dib promptly wiped the sweat from his face, pulling a bottled water from the backseat and sating his thirsty throat with a few swigs, eyes still glued to the window as thoughts swirled through his head sloppily. Here he was on a new planet with no Dad, no sister, no classmates, no teacher…and hopefully a Zim. The ship's automated voice-thing had made it sound like he was supposed to land within range of Zim's Voot cruiser, and he really hoped it had kept that promise. Dib knew that two weeks worth of food wouldn't be enough to keep him alive for all the time it would take to scale an entire planet in pursuit of a tiny green alien.

_Okay…_ Once finished with his water and a snack of gummy bears, Dib looked back through the small window, fascinated. He wanted to go out there. Time was of the essence of course; if Zim's Voot still worked, which he assumed it did due to the fact the Zim's Computer on Earth had been able to track the thing, Zim could be up and off of the planet in seconds and Dib wouldn't have any idea where he had gone. He had already checked the planet out via the Computer databases: oxygen-rich atmosphere, livable climate, mild weather. He only hoped they were right.

Promising himself not to delay it any further, he wrenched open the hatch and stuck a booted foot out into the alien air, warily stepping onto the soft ground beneath.

When he was quite sure he hadn't exploded or melted in some kind of alien acid, Dib opened his eyes again and hoisted himself out of the pod, both feet on what would have seemed to be grass if not for its odd pink color. Anxious, he inhaled a nervous breath and exhaled slowly, body relaxing visibly when, again, he didn't find himself near-death in any way. Glad that Zim's annoyed computer hadn't given him any false information, he managed a few steps across the pink foliage and smiled, only to pause and look up when an oblong shadow came cutting across the grass and into his vision. The shadow trailed up to the edge of something pink and purple. Something pink and purple and familiar….

Dib promptly stepped backwards. He bent his knees to ground himself as his eyes went up to the top of the Voot, tracing over the tiny figure that sat there, over the small back that was hunched and the body that was bent over the glass windshield, the small arms that hung listlessly. He continued to look up, staring in shock at the very familiar green head, right into the pink eyes that, once he stared into them, widened immensely as if to make a concentrated effort to stare back.

And then, before he had time to blink, it was gone from the Voot. Gasping, breaking out into a sudden sweat, Dib leapt forward and watched as the familiar figure darted off behind one of the tall, nearby green-grey trees with the broad leaves. Dib watched in shock to see what looked like the end of a knotted rope trailing behind the departing shadow, only for that too to disappear.

In moments, Dib's heart was beating and his legs were running.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Sorry it took so very criminally long for me to post this xD I really have no good excuse.

On with the chase!


	16. Chapter 15: Get You Good

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"ZIM!"

Dib barely paid attention to the pounding in his chest as he turned to dart around the nearest tree, eyes flicking to and fro as he thrust himself with each step in the direction of the footsteps he heard. As he weaved through the plants in pursuit, he followed the sound of surprisingly heavy breathing that, to his awareness, was not his own, every now and again catching a glimpse of that rope-like thing dragging behind his prey.

He didn't have to force himself not to be distracted. Mind on one thing and one thing only, he followed the shadow that darted away around one of the trees and stared at the retreating frorm before him, again recognizing the familiar pink tunic and little booted feet that moved in frantic escape. The boy glanced down momentarily as he ran and saw the end of the rope slithering through the grass as he advanced, narrowing his eyes with an idea.

Dib leapt, stomping down on the edge of the rope as hard as he could and shoving all of his weight down onto his foot.

"EEEEEYAAHHHH!"

"Nyah!"

Suddenly, Dib's nose hurt and his mouth was full of grass. Face down on the ground with something hard and knotty digging into his ribs, the boy groaned and sat up as quickly as his throbbing cheek would allow, looking across from him and into the big pink eyes that stared from about a foot away.

"…" Dib watched for a few moments as he sat on the knotted end of the rope, trying to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. Zim, covered in grass and dirt from the fall Dib had caused for the both of them, was curled at the base of one of the trees, skinny arms holding his legs against his front and feelers pressed back almost unnaturally flatly against the top of his head. He noticed, on further inspection, that Zim seemed weirdly tiny and gaunt, with a strange, hazy purple-ness under both eyes and a front that seemed too small to support the pink tunic. A slow trickle of relief inching through him despite the oddness of the situation, Dib bit his bottom lip and reached out, hand creeping closer to Zim. He wanted to touch him, make sure he was really rea-

"OUCH!" Dib retracted the hand immediately with a yelp and clutched the side of his suddenly bleeding face, staring in shock at the gloveless claw that was extended his way. He grit his teeth to steel himself from the pain.

"H-hey…you scratched me!" he accused, poking a bloody finger at the Irken, only to notice those eyes had narrowed pointedly in his direction. Before he could react further, sharp zipper-like teeth flashed at him, accompanied by a hiss.

"Stay away from Zim, disgusting _pig-beast_!"

The black feelers perked a little, and Dib almost had the urge to smile. He hadn't heard that voice in so long. However, something about this situation was more than a little disturbing, something that kept Dib from feeling too much victory.

"You…you left Earth," Dib replied, the obviousness of his claim barely registering in his brain. His mind was racing as he took inventory of the events of the past couple of years, eyes narrowing in anger and confusion. Zim didn't look…healthy.

"You left Earth, Zim! You left me!" he said more loudly, long pent-up frustrations beginning to surface in his tone.

"Do you realize how long you were gone for? !"

"Leave Zim alone!" To Dib's surprise, Zim curled against the base of the tree again rather than attacking, feelers back and eyes narrowed, expression conveying something that Dib thought looked more like distress than anger. Determined, Dib scooted closer, realization registering in his mind when he saw the end of the trapped rope tied fastly around Zim's right wrist.

He paled immediately, remembering tying that knot himself. How had Zim not managed to dislodge that, after all this time?

"…No way." Swiftly, Dib reached out and snatched both of Zim's wrists boldly in his grip, one in each hand. The resulting wail almost startled Dib out of his own hold. Looking Zim in the face directly, staring into the familiar visage that was pursed in an uncharacteristic expression of urgency and what seemed like fear, Dib loosened his grip very slightly.

He was prepared when Zim began thrashing around, little feet kicking at Dib's sides and body shifting back and forth as the Irken attempted to wrench his wrists out of the human's grasp. More determined than ever to keep Zim where he wanted him, Dib tightened the grip again and pushed Zim back against the tree with a knee to his front. A little squeal sounded out, causing Dib to tilt his head to the side a little.

Seriously, this was not like Zim at all…

"Tell me Zim," he ordered, leaning in and pressing their foreheads together firmly as he tried to get Zim to look him in the face. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, the Irken did so, affixing Dib with such a pitiful look that it almost caused the human to let go out of surprise.

"Tell me why you left Earth."

"Zim has no reason to tell such things!" the prisoner protested more quietly than usual, voice a bit croaky but still conveying his obvious anger.

"Release Zim!"

"Tell me why, then!"

"Release him!"

"Tell me WHY!"

Zim began to struggle again, but his movements were weak enough that Dib didn't have to go to any greater measures to stop them. Heart beating insistently in his chest, Dib continued to stare Zim in the eye and kept their foreheads pressed against one another's, suddenly feeing a burning sensation behind his eyes as he kept Zim pinned against the tree. He took a slow breath to keep himself together, staying composed as best he could as Zim's thrashing began to die down. It was hard not to remember all that time he had been without Zim. It had only been two years, but it had felt like forever. Forever running with no goal in mind, and with nobody who appreciated anything about him. Dib had never been so alone.

"Tell m-"

"Zim had no reason to stay on Earth!" The shout promptly knocked all words back down Dib's throat. Startled, the boy looked down and stared into the pink eyes that looked back.

"The Tallest have sent Zim into exile! He is no longer an Invader and no longer useful for Operation Impending Doom Two!" Zim shouted in obvious upset, loudness familiar to Dib but voice shaky in a way the human could never remember it having been.

"Zim needs no Earth! He wants nothing to do with that HORRIBLE cesspool you call a _planet_! He serves no Tallest and rules no alien slave-pigs! ZIM BELONGS TO NOTHING!"

Dib was vaguely aware that the blood on the side of his face was beginning to dry, but simply stared at the slumped and shouting Irken, his memory dutifully reminding him of the last words Zim had uttered before he had left Earth those years ago.

_You do belong here, Dib-human…but Zim belongs to nothing._

"…Zim," he eventually muttered when the Irken seemed to have quieted, not sure what he wanted to say. Though silent, Zim was beginning to squirm again weakly in the grip Dib had on his wrists. Dib found he didn't know what to say. Zim felt so unnecessary that he had left the planet? Did that even make sense? Even if Zim had been exiled from his home planet, did that mean he couldn't stay and continue living on the one he had originally planned to conquer?

He was brought out of his reverie by a hiss.

"How did you encounter Zim?" Zim asked with obvious hostility, limp in Dib's grip and yet glaring daggers right at him.

_Encounter? Oh…_ "I…kinda went in your base and used your computer," Dib replied, expecting Zim to lash out at him once those words got through. "It helped me fix my translation device so I could read your language and I figured out where you were. I used your extra space pod…" He trailed off into silence when he saw that Zim had curled further and was shaking his head back and forth, watching those black feelers tremble against the tree trunk.

"Why, Dib?" The Irken groaned, looking up at him sharply with distress apparent in his expression. "Why hunt for Zim? Zim wants none of you. Zim…belongs to none of you!"

Above all else, Dib was immediately caught off guard by the use of his name on its own, without any insult added onto it. Staring to feel guilty with how tightly he was holding Zim's wrists and how weirdly upset his rival was becoming, Dib took a breath and let the skinny arms go free.

Zim leapt immediately. Horrified, Dib reached back out and clutched back onto the dangling rope, yanking it and watching as his prisoner jerked backwards and fell on his back on the ground.

"Hey, stop that!" Thoroughly aggravated by the confusing situation, the boy took a deep breath and shuffled on his knees over to face the limp alien, hoisting a leg over him and straddling his legs to make sure he couldn't get out from under him. He'd finally found him, for heaven's sake! He wasn't going to let him go away so easily!

"Why here, Zim? Why here and not Earth?" he demanded in frustration, hardly aware that his own voice was getting a little weak, too.

"Tell me why!"

"…" Zim stayed quiet.

Not having expected silence, Dib leaned in further and stared at the familiar face, thrown off by the positively…helpless look Zim was giving him.

"…The Tallest believe Zim to be dead," the Irken eventually spat out, arms weakly struggling to push himself up as Dib pinned him with his weight. "He cannot be found on Earth. He needs no Earth. Zim needed to go away."

_Dead…_ Dib widened his eyes immediately. Of course they would have expected Zim was dead, what with the fact that he would have been if Dib hadn't saved him from the PAK explosion. He looked down at the weak little body and lightened his weight on it only slightly, knowing Zim would try to run again if he left him to his own devices completely. He looked so skinny…

"…you…why do you look so-"

_Since Zim lost his PAK, he has been forced to engage in…unnatural…thingies._

It hit him.

"You haven't been eating?"

Zim winced as he was stared at, feelers twitching noticeably on his head.

"There is…little food for Zim here," the Irken muttered.

Dib couldn't get his voice to work. For once, strongly and definitely, he felt bad for Zim. Not only had he been exiled and left for dead, but forced off into space to keep his life, not to mention the fact that he was stranded with no life support on a planet that obviously wasn't Irken-friendly. Somehow, that voice in the back of Dib's head that reminded him this was an enemy was quieter than ever now.

Reaching out without thinking twice about it, he gathered the Irken tightly into his grasp and clutched him as close as he possibly could, that familiar burning sensation behind his eyes trickling out at the edges. Not caring at all to stop it, he held Zim there and pressed his face into the side of Zim's head, blood rushing and head feeling light.

It had been so long!

Dib had almost forgotten what that voice sounded like, how it was just to be around Zim in general. He missed the fights and the struggles, the plotting and the glaring and the big pink eyes that validated the beliefs that nobody else seemed to understand. The warm from Zim's skin, though faint, was startlingly comforting. He was real, he was real, he was real…

"Vile _human_…"

In that moment, Dib realized just how much he had missed in the last two years.

Thoroughly unwilling to let him go, the boy continued to hold his nemesis tightly in his grasp and squeezed him, the only sound his slightly hitched breathing and the gentle sobs he was having a hard time choking back. To his mild surprise, Zim didn't seem to be struggling. In fact, the Irken was letting it happen, laying there limply with his head on Dib's shoulder and allowing each touch and squeeze. After a few moments it occurred to Dib that Zim felt particularly bony and small, so he let go and looked away with slightly red cheeks, taking Zim by the rope still tied to his wrist.

"…C'mon, Zim," he said softly and stood, pulling at the rope and glancing over. The alien sat on the grass and was looking away from him, refusing to meet his eyes. Not at all surprised by the defiance, he pointed in the direction of his borrowed space pod.

"I've got food. We can share it." Now that he knew he wouldn't have to spend weeks hunting Zim down, he figured he had more than enough for the both of them.

To Dib's surprise, Zim was suddenly on his two feet, still looking away but apparently willing to go along. Smiling slightly, Dib turned around and led Zim along through the trees and over to where he had landed, approaching the open hatch and pausing as he looked back at Zim. Zim stared back with his arms crossed, hips tilted moodily to the side and eyes narrowed.

Dib looked to the rope.

"Will you run away if I let go?"

Zim bared his teeth in an unhappy sneer.

"Zim belongs to no stinking _human._"

Taking that response as a 'yes', Dib looked around for a moment before tying the free end of the rope around his own wrist, ducking down into the pod and reaching for the backseat. He rustled around a little with his free hand before managing to pull out a lunch box, sitting down on the grass and sticking his tongue out in concentration as he flipped the lid open.

"…Here." He pulled out a plastic sandwich bag containing a bagel smothered in cheese, also removing a semi-large bag of chips and a can of soda and setting them on the ground. He pushed them over towards his prisoner and looked up, noticing that Zim was still standing.

"…You can eat with me, you know," Dib tried to persuade, not at all liking the gauntness of Zim's body and obvious lack of power to his movements. Reaching out, he shoved the foods over further, setting them at Zim's feet.

Zim gave him a look, one eye squinting distrustfully while the other remained wide. Dib grinned despite himself.

"No meat, I promise."

Slowly, as if he didn't at all trust Dib, Zim sat down on the ground and reached out, struggling to open the bag containing the bagel and tossing it aside. Instead, he grabbed ahold of the can of soda and quickly popped it open, eyes still focused on Dib as he reached up and brought it to his mouth. He took a sip slowly, still staring at the human, and then widened both eyes immensely.

Within moments, Zim had ripped into the chips and was too busy stuffing his mouth with food to keep up the staring contest, feelers twitching and jumping up and down.

"Hah!" Reaching up to cover his mouth when he realized he was laughing, Dib looked down bashfully and proceeded to open up his own bag of chips, giggling around a handful. It was just so…GREAT to see Zim being Zim again! He had missed it so much, ever since he had changed. Ever since he had lost his PAK…

Thinking of something, Dib swallowed his food and looked up.

"Hey, Zim, uh…" He thought a moment, making sure he wasn't mistaken. "If your PAK's…you know, screwed up, and they deactivated your robot-dog-thing…why didn't they mess with your Computer, too?"

Zim emptied the bag of chips into his mouth and looked over, staring like it was a stupid question.

"The Tallest believe Zim to be dead, Dib-stink," he replied in quiet annoyance, turning to fight with the bagel bag again. "Why would they bother?"

"…oh, right." Sighing, Dib set the rest of his meal aside and squirmed in his place on the grass, too excited to eat.

"That's okay. If it still works, you can go back to your base and…" Pausing, Dib widened his eyes in sudden realization. He wanted Zim back on Earth, sure. He wanted everything to be like it was before. He wanted to feel like he hadn't waited all those years for Zim to return. And yet…

He didn't want Earth destroyed!

The human watched the Irken as he gobbled down on the bagel, Dib's face the absolute picture of shock. What was he thinking, coming all the way out here to bring Zim BACK with him? Zim would surely just continue his plotting to destroy the Earth, wouldn't he? As much as Zim claimed he 'had no need' for Earth, Dib wouldn't put it past him to hatch up some pretty evil schemes, anyways.

He watched Zim licking his gloved fingers with that weird tongue, mouth suddenly feeling dry.

He…couldn't help himself.

Even if Zim did try to take over the world again, he wanted him back.

"Well…we should probably get going," he eventually managed, standing up and pointing to his borrowed ship. "We've got more than enough food to get us back to Earth. I stayed at your base for awhile, but I didn't do anything weird. It still looks fine." Not sure whether to feel treacherous or overjoyed, he looked Zim in the eye and smiled weakly, unable to help the flutter of happiness that passed through him.

"Let's go home, Zim."

Suddenly, Zim stood up, discarding all the trash from their lunch and stepping backwards. For a moment, Dib thought Zim was trying to hoist himself into the ship and reached out, offering him a hand.

To Dib's confusion, Zim inched back and away from him, feelers flattened.

Confusion turned slowly to horror when the human realized the rope was stretched tight between them.

"Not in one million Earth-years, Dib-thing."

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

What fighty little things. I swear, find a way to make Zim and Dib get along for two seconds, and you could probably also find the cure for cancer.

This story is getting longer than I intended, probably because the two of them are little stubborn gits (especially Zim). However, I think it's reasonably safe to say it won't get longer than 20 chapters. Then again, you never know.

I really hope you guys find this entertaining so far! Stay tuned.


	17. Chapter 16: Unwilling

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"…"

Dib stared at Zim, horror starting to creep up on him. _Was_ he having a nightmare? Was all of this in his imagination?

"…what do you mean, 'no', Zim?"

Zim backed up again, the rope tightening between them and rubbing painfully against Dib's wrist.

"Have you the brainworms? Even the Dib isn't so _stupid_ as to believe Zim will come along!" he hissed out, raising a skinny arm to point at Dib accusingly.

"He will have Zim cut open! YOU will turn me in to the Earth authorities!"

OH...Oh yeah, right. Wincing as the rope chafed against his skin, Dib reached out to grab ahold of it with his free hand, trying to stop Zim's backing up and pulling.

He should have known Zim would expect such a thing from him. After all, they were enemies, weren't they? Well…yes, they were, but Dib had started to realize a while ago that he didn't want to fight with Zim anymore. He wanted to interact with him, maybe to have some tiffs once in awhile, some struggles and competitions, but he didn't want to shed blood.

Dib stopped his returned tugging at the realization, slowly hanging his head.

It was true. He didn't want Zim to be harmed. He just wanted him to be back in his life.

"…c'mon!" Trying to catch the alien off guard, he tugged hard and watched Zim stumble towards him a little bit. Taking his chance, he wound the rope around his wrist and reeled the flailing Irken closer and closer, managing to keep Zim off balance to the point so that the alien couldn't increase the distance between them. Among the hisses and kicks, Dib widened his eyes and reached back into the glove compartment under the control panel within the pod he had used to get there, having to tug a yelling and squirming creature back quite aways before he could close his fingers around the cold metal he sought.

"Release me! I am ZIM!"

With a final thrust of weight, he yanked Zim back and snatched both of the small wrists, a clink of metal sounding out from between them.

A dead weight collapsed on top of Dib. Startled and yet relieved, the human held the sleepcuffs steadily in his palms, assuring they had latched into place correctly and sitting up. He gathered the unconscious Zim into his grasp and grunted as he stood to his feet, beginning to lug his catch into the pod before thinking of something and pausing and looking over to the purple contraption nearby.

He figured he should probably take the Voot instead. Zim would be angry enough when he woke up; the last thing he needed was for him to find out he'd not only forced him into coming back to Earth with him, but also that his space ship was out on a planet somewhere where he couldn't get to it. Knowing he could only get one of the ships home, he settled on Zim's usual transportation and carried its owner over to it, reaching out and placing the Irken into the passenger's chair.

"…sorry Zim." Smiling bitterly, he hoisted himself into the driver's seat and widened his eyes when the glass hatch settled over the ship, apparently aware that its operator was present. Thinking of something momentarily, he slipped his pocketknife from the glove compartment and used it to cut the rope connecting them. He then reached out and put a hand on the steering lever.

Silence. Swallowing nervously, he looked about before locating a green 'ON' button and pressing it, feeling the telling vibration of engines beneath his seat. Aware that he didn't know how to fly it and severely hoping the Voot had the same auto-drive capabilities as the pod, he coughed and gently pushed a button labeled 'AUTO', hearing an automated voice beep out familiarly.

"_State coordinates for travel._"

"Oh…" Dib looked over to the little sleeping figure beside him, taking a breath.

"Planet Earth, please." He then stated his address without thinking, brain wandering off elsewhere. As fascinating as he was sure it would be to explore this planet…He wasn't sure he wanted to anymore. He had found what he was looking for.

Home sounded good.

A steady and slow rumble went through the ship, signifying the incoming takeoff. Looking for something to hold onto, Dib tensed a little and glanced to the side, snatching up the first thing that came to mind.

He hugged ahold of the skinny something even after he was too tired to stay awake.

Dib had no idea that he had even fallen asleep, but before he knew it, something was beeping. Loudly, in fact, and painfully within Dib's cerebrum. Slowly pulling his face out from where he had buried it into something small and soft, the boy raised his head and opened his eyes, eyeballs burning at the flashing red lights that covered his vision.

"Destination approaching."

"…nyah!" Staring out the clear glass of the hatch to see a blur of fast-approaching buildings, Dib reached out with one hand and clung onto the steer bar, clutching Zim tightly to his front with the other.

He had to stop it somehow! Where were the breaks?

Deciding to try to stop the descent to Earth any way possible, he tugged the bar towards himself and gasped to feel his world spin around him, body falling hard against the steel of the control panel. He cried out at the sudden pain in his ribs and curled instinctively, still squeezing Zim against his side as he tried to bury his head in his free arm and avoid the pain of impact. Moments later, his surroundings shook and he was tossed backwards onto the seat, body going limp and ears vaguely picking up the noise of shattered glass. The red lights stopped flashing and the shaking around him ceased.

"…nnngh…" Dib moaned with pain, head swimming and gut absolutely displeased. Able to feel a painful bruise forming on his ribcage, he continued to clutch onto the Irken in his grasp and very slowly opened his eyes back up, finding himself gazing up into a familiar blue sky.

"…" Momentarily watching the clouds drift past, he forced himself to sit back up and whimpered, able to feel the strains his body had endured as he slid out of the seat and onto his feet, pulling the unconscious alien with him as he did so. He stood back and stared at the smoking, steaming mass of a crumpled Voot, realization slowly registering in his brain. He'd crashed the thing. He'd _crashed_ it.

…Oh dear.

"Mnhm."

Startled to hear a sound from below, Dib looked down and held Zim out away from him a little bit, watching him squirm in his hold. Oh…no no no no! How was he waking up? Dib's mind reeled. He was supposed to stay unconscious while cuffed!

Suddenly, he was vaguely aware of a limp arm hanging over his shoulder. Horror setting in, the boy looked slowly over to the destroyed cruiser and stared at the cuffs that had apparently been knocked loose by the force of the crash, eyes following one of the latches as the cuffs hung lifelessly over the passenger's seat.

"…Dib-beast?"

He was screwed.

"…" Dib could feel Zim struggling to get out of the hold and, afraid of what might happen to him if he didn't, reached out and bent a little at the knee to set Zim down carefully, back aching in response to the arching movement. Stepping backwards, he watched as the alien found his footing and stared into the big pink eyes that opened to look at him.

Admittedly, Dib felt a little relief. At least Zim didn't seem to be hurt…

"…Enh?" Zim looked around slowly as if getting his bearings, his confused expression telling Dib all he needed to know. Of course the Irken didn't know where he was; they had been on Planet Rot half a day ago, and he'd had to forcibly knock him out to get him to come back to Earth. The confusion didn't last long, though, and Dib was suddenly clutched by little gloved hands. He looked down, wincing as he was tugged at.

"Wretched FOOL! How? How did you do this to Zim?"

Caught off guard, Dib reached up to cover his ears from the screeching, trying to take a pace away. Okay, he had expected this…sort of. He just hadn't made too good of a plan of how to deal with it yet.

"…It was for your own good, Zim," he managed to reply, watching the little Irken shaking with seeming rage. It was true. Zim obviously could eat at least _some_ human food, and if the Computer at his base was operational, surely there was some Irken technology there that could keep Zim alive? Wasn't Earth the best place for him to be?

"You're…starved."

"You HORRIBLE INTERFERING STINK-MEAT!"

"OW!" Suddenly on his back, Dib cried out in pain as his spine protested the violent shove, gasping for air to feel the skinny figure pressing down on his chest with its weight. He reached up as Zim sat on him, arms flailing as he tried to snatch onto the ground for purchase.

"Zim wants no Earth! NO EARTH!"

Dib closed his eyes and groaned in pain to feel an excess of weak but painful slaps raining out over the sides of his already bruised face. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea. Zim didn't want to be here, obviously. Maybe he should have left him…

Dib's heart ached at the prospect. He…_couldn't._

"FIX IT! Fix it NOW! Take me away from this filthy planet!"

"…" Slowly realizing that Zim didn't seem to have noticed the state of his transportation, Dib forced himself up into a sitting position and shrunk back a little to find a glaring and living Zim right in his face, taking a deep breath and pointing over at the smoking piece of technology.

"I…can't."

Pink eyes widened. Dib could only watch as Zim, surprisingly unscathed from the crash, turned and gazed in the direction of the cruiser. Expecting a more painful attack this time around, he scooted back a little and steeled himself, not sure he had the energy to get up.

To his surprise, Zim climbed off of him and stepped a few feet back, staring at the Voot unmovingly. The feelers perked, then lowered, then perked again as the alien watched the rising smoke, realization seeming to set into his face. Before Dib could say or feel anything further, Zim turned to face him and gave him a positively hateful look, one that caused Dib to shiver in his boots.

"Leave Zim alone, Dib-thing, ALONE! Forever! Or I will make you wish you were never hatched!"

…forever?

"Zim!"

"You…_HUMAN_!"

Dib didn't have a chance to gauge his reaction any further. Zim was gone. Blinking, the boy turned around painfully and watched the little Irken dart off over the green grass, figure turning the corner around the fence and heading off towards who-knew-where. It took Dib a moment to realize he was reaching out in Zim's direction, both arms outstretched.

"…Zim." Dib knew he was gone, but he didn't want to believe it. No…He had brought Zim back to Earth so he would stay in his life! He didn't want Zim to die out in space somewhere. He wanted Zim to stay healthy, to stay a part of his daily existence.

Dib knew that, no matter what he had thought before, a life without Zim wasn't the life that he wanted to live.

Much too achy to give chase, he turned around and watched the tendrils of smoke curling up into the sickeningly bright blue sky, vaguely realizing exactly where he sat. He was in his backyard. Oh, right…He'd given the ship _his _address…

Suddenly in too much pain even to think anymore, Dib collapsed against the grass and curled against the warm metal side of the downed cruiser, one end of the cut rope still tied around his wrist. He didn't care that he still felt bruised and could swear he felt blood trickling over the back of his skull, or that he was splayed out on the grass in his backyard ready to pass out. He'd sleep for a week if he could.

Forever was a really long time.

o~o

"Gaz?"

"Mmnh…" Gaz replied with her usual growl, seated against the arm of the living room couch with thumbs pounding at the buttons of the GameSlave 2.

Dib popped his head into the room and stepped a little closer, blowtorch held in one hand and grease streaked obviously across his forehead and cheeks. He sighed out of relief to be indoors, enjoying the heat blowing onto his face from the nearby vent on the wall. It was February, and a thin coat of snow was sprinkled across the ground outside, including up the driveway and up into the edge of the garage where he was working. Like he had become accustomed to doing over the few months, he spent all free time in the garage with the object of his current devotion, frequently getting covered in industrial sludge and sometimes burns. Still, even Dib realized he had to take a break sometime.

Forgetting for a moment what he had wanted to ask about at an insistent rumble from his stomach, Dib set his tools down on the kitchen table and approached the fridge, opening it up and digging through it. He unearthed half a peach pie he had been saving and quickly heated it up in the microwave before he carried it to the sofa, sitting on the cushion across from his sister and digging into his treat with a plastic spoon.

"Mmmmn." Heaven…

"Are you _still_ fixing that thing?" Gaz muttered at him, setting her player down for a moment when the telling victory beep signified she had beaten the game.

Dib looked up with a mouth full of pie, nodding. "Mphmm." He wiped the crumbs from his mouth and swallowed, kicking his boots off onto the floor and crossing his legs to get more comfortable. "Yeah! I got one of the side engines welded back in today," he said excitedly, smiling faintly. It was taking awhile, but he was making progress.

The Voot was almost put back together. As many hours as it was taking, Dib was luckily in somewhat familiar territory, having done similar repairs on Tak's ship in the past. He had replaced the glass hatch, re-welded the engines, and pounded the dents out of the sides of the craft. It took a lot of time, but it was worth it to keep Dib's mind occupied.

Dib sighed, taking another bite of his pie. That was really the best reason he had for doing it, if he even had one. Zim hadn't come back at any time to reclaim it (probably because he assumed it was completely totaled, Dib supposed), so the boy had taken it upon himself to fix it up. In fact, Zim hadn't even been to skool since then at all, his desk remaining empty. Dib supposed he should have been used to it; Zim not being there shouldn't have been too great of a surprise. He had been away for years beforehand, anyways, so it wasn't as if much had changed.

Still, Dib felt worse now, sleeping even less frequently and constantly counting down the seconds until he would be allowed to run home and work on the Voot, stopping only to go inside for warmth or a meal. He had avoided the threat of summer skool in the months prior by promising to improve his grades, which he had done, if only due to his intense need to be focusing on something at all times. As much as he tried to care about his studies, Dib couldn't do it. He always finished his work as soon as possible and made repairs on the cruiser with the rest of his time.

"I just have to hammer out some more of the dents, and then I'll try connecting it to a power source and see if it can hold a charge!"

"Uh-huh."

Beeps sounded out as Gaz continued her game, obviously not interested in whatever Dib was talking about. Not surprised, he finished all of the pie that he could stomach and set the remainder on the coffee table, looking over and shifting back briefly to see his sister holding a pink piece of paper out at him.

"…what?" Reaching out, he took it into his own hand and looked over the text crammed into the crudely drawn heart, raising an eyebrow.

"…Valentine's Dance? Huh?"

"At skool tomorrow. Dad called. He's making us go," Gaz grumbled in reply, thumbs smacking at her game more furiously.

"…what?" Dib put the paper down on the table and shrunk back away from it as if scared it might bite him.

"I'm not going to that! I have to work on the ship!" He paused, grimacing. "That's a stupid thing, anyway."

"Yeah. Dad says we have to. Grrr…" Gaz propped her feet up on the coffee table, looking just as if not more annoyed by the prospect of having to attend a dance. "He says it will help with your _stupid_ social life."

"But…I…uh…" Dib's brain was frying. "But I have to work on the cruiser! And I don't really…have a social life anyway," he admitted, brow furrowed.

Gaz punched at her game, glaring at it.

"_Exactly_."

"…"

Head starting to ache a little, Dib pulled his glasses off and rubbed at his temples, sliding off of the couch cushion and replacing his spectacles. He wasn't in the mood to be upset. Hopefully his father would forget about it. Turning, he plucked his blowtorch from the kitchen table and walked back out into the chilliness of the garage, sitting beside the Voot and placing his hand on the engine.

He couldn't wait. Deciding he could mess around with the dents later, Dib connected one of the cords that ran out from the Voot's control panel and plugged it into his laptop computer that sat nearby. He then snatched the power cord curled under the engine and pulled it up to the outlet in the corner, easing it in and quickly returning to observe the screen.

CHARGING FAILED

ATTEMPTING TO RECHARGE BATTERY

Sighing, he slumped back against the engine and let his head hang. He had thought things would change now that Zim was back, but it felt just the same as before.

The seconds were passing like hours.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

My gosh! MANY thanks to all of you for your fantastic and motivating reviews! Your feedback inspires me, especially when you leave recommendations and specific details! :D

Anyways, I sat down last night and planned out where the rest of this story is going, just to try to avoid any lapses in continuity/plot twists that might take things too out-of-character. Still, I can't be sure how many chapters are left, but there will be at least a few.

I'm aware there are still a few unanswered questions. Fear not; they will be addressed!

On with the story.


	18. Chapter 17: A Last Race

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Oh, come now, son! It will be good for you to have fun with all your little friends."

"But…Dad!" Clutching onto the kitchen countertop, Dib turned and stared longingly out the window nearest to the garage, chewing his bottom lip. This was NOT happening. No way. Nuh-uh.

"I have to work on this alien ship I found! It still won't hold a charge! I think there might be something wrong with its battery-"

"Now, son…" Dib winced to hear his father cut him off over the phone. "Things like this are supposed to be _exciting_ for a boy your age! Maybe not as exciting as _science,_ perhaps, but anyhow!"

"Dances aren't exciting!" the boy protested. Not that he really knew, come to think of it. He'd never been to one. Just…it wasn't his thing, dressing up and going someplace where everyone was just going to laugh at him. All that…lovey-dovey…awkward…stuff. It wasn't like anyone he knew from Skool was even nice to him. He wouldn't be doing any socializing. Not willingly, anyways.

"I don't even have anything to wear!"

"It's for your own good, son," Membrane replied simply. Dib could just imagine him pointing his finger up purposefully as he spoke. "Now, I have a _very_ important experiment to be getting back to, and you have to be at the skool in a half an hour! I expect you to go to your little dance and report back to me with how it went! You never know, you just might meet someone who can help you get those grades up even higher!"

Dib knew his efforts at talking his way out of this were futile at the familiar clink of test tubes and the bubbling that sounded over the line. Frustration pouring down hotly into his belly, he reached out and held the phone away from his face, wanting to throw it.

"_Fine."_

He hung up and dragged himself up the stairs dejectedly, stopping in front of his closet and rustling through it with a glare. He couldn't believe he was being forced to do this. He knew what it would be like. Lots of standing around awkwardly, having cups of punch thrown in his face, avoiding having his feet stepped on and hiding out in the bathroom. His everyday Skool life was pretty much like that, so he could only imagine that a Skool _dance_ would be the same, if not stickier and more humiliating.

"We have to leave now, _stupid_!"

"…Coming, Gaz." Sighing, Dib yanked on the red sweater-vest and turned to sink slowly back downstairs, glancing forlornly out that same window as the siblings stepped out together and into the street.

o~o

Dib had been right about the stickiness.

"Ew…gross…" Picking up his foot and shaking it in disgust to rid his sole of what he was sure was someone's discarded gum, Dib shuffled aside and scraped his shoe on the edge of the door, peering in and glancing about with Gaz at his side. The dance was being held in the cafeteria, which had been cleared (mostly) of lunch tables and benches and decorated with jagged, cutout paper hearts and posters, and was populated by packs of chatting middle-school students, all of whom Dib recognized and many of which he knew to avoid. Dread setting in at the realization that he was expected to stay in this room for the hour allotted, he swallowed dryly and watched as his sister ducked out from behind him, heading for the opposite wall.

"I'm going to play my game. Don't you _dare _tell Dad," she muttered threateningly, snatching her GameSlave 2 from the pocket of the simple black dress she had donned for the event (probably against her will, Dib realized) and heading for the single grimy table still settled in the corner of the cafeteria. She then sat down to resume whatever she was currently playing, leaving Dib by himself at the entrance.

"…okay."

Suddenly, Dib felt incredibly alone, standing stiffly in the doorway as the electric beeps of annoying, poppy techno music began to sound out from the speakers at each end of the large room. He could only watch awkwardly as the hoard of students, instead of dancing, began shouting and chasing one another around like a group of crazed howler monkeys, or something. Wasn't middle skool a little young for kids to start having dances?

Deciding to occupy himself any way he could, he shuffled over towards what looked like the refreshment table, reaching out for a cup and using the ladle there to fill it with the off-purple slosh in the big plastic bowl. Shuddering, not at all sure it looked safe to drink, he stood against the wall nearby and feigned an interest in the mauve goop, hoping that nobody would invade his personal area.

Thankfully, after a few minutes of staring off into space, nobody seemed to have noticed Dib. Relieved, wondering whether he could get away with leaving early and just saying he had shown up, he turned around and promptly stumbled backwards, something cold and wet suddenly oozing down over the side of his face.

"Nyah!" He yelped before he could help himself and reached up to take his glasses off, squinting at the blurry figure of Torque Smacky's laughing face.

"Hah! Nice outfit, weirdo!" Snickering, the grinning blur stepped off out of Dib's region of vision, taking with it the vague figures of what looked and sounded like giggling girls. Groaning mentally and cursing aloud, the boy slumped down by the wall in embarrassment and wiped the punch out of his eyes with the sleeve. He squinted and blinked in an attempt to make sure that the goop hadn't somehow damaged his vision irreparably (heaven knew what the mashed potatoes had done to Zita's eye awhile ago…), slowly moving his blurred gaze up the cafeteria wall and towards the window over by the corner.

And seeing…green.

Brows drawing up in confusion, Dib watched the indistinct blur and quickly rubbed his lenses onto the dry part of his shirt, tilting his head to the side. Surely he was seeing something normal, like a bush, or a dumpster, or…

He slipped his glasses onto his nose and stood, immediately clutching onto the side of the table nearby in an attempt to keep himself from falling back over. It wasn't _just_ green.

He'd know those magenta eyes anywhere.

Yet again asking himself if this could be for real, Dib blinked rapidly behind his glasses and promptly looked away, only glancing back at the window after a few moments to recognize once more the big red orbs that peered in. Thankful that they seemed to be looking in a direction somewhat opposite from where he stood, the boy sat down on a folding chair by the table and stared as his heart began to beat more quickly, watching in shock as two little gloved hands pressed on the glass of the window.

His breath caught in his throat as he watched the figure clamber up the outside of the glass and out of sight, narrowing his eyes discerningly.

Okay…He had probably just imagined that. He likely had too much Zim on the brain lately, what with all his working on the cruiser in his garage. There was no reason Zim would come to the Skool of all places, anyways, after spending so much time away, was there? He didn't have any appearances to keep up, not anymore. Everybody else around Dib had seemed to forget that Zim used to attend at all.

Maybe…

_Leave Zim alone, Dib-thing, ALONE! Forever! Or I will make you wish you were never hatched!_

Dib shook his head before he could finish that thought. It couldn't have anything to do with wanting to see _him_. Zim had made it perfectly clear that Dib was to stay out of his life until the end of time. Looking back to the window, the boy swallowed and stood up from where he was hunched against the metal of the seat, setting his cup of punch-sludge aside.

He definitely didn't think he could take those orders to heart now. Curiosity overwhelming him, Dib turned and weaved his way through the crowd of running middle-schoolers, tripping a couple times over crumpled, heart-shaped papers and such that littered the cafeteria on his way out. Deciding to be as inconspicuous as possible, he ducked out the back door and ran into the adjoined hallway, getting an idea.

One trip to the janitor's closet later, he dragged a heavy ladder out the back way and heaved it against the side of the building, swallowing as he held onto the side bars. He was relatively convinced that once he got up there, he wouldn't find what he was expecting. Probably just a cold, deserted roof. With how crazy everyone claimed him to be, Dib almost wouldn't be surprised if the green thing had just been a hallucination, but he wasn't about to go on with his life without finding out.

Grunting softly, he pushed himself up the last rung and onto the edge of the flat roof, steadying himself on the balls of his feet. Was it even possible that Zim was the-

"DIB-STINK!"

Apparently it was.

"Zim?" Dib barely had a moment to catch sight of the full figure of the alien, eyes flicking over to stare at the little silhouette that stood a few feet away, completely disguise-free. The black antennae were flattened back, the red eyes gleamed a little in the twilight, and something purple and decidedly plasticy was clutched in the Invader's extended hand.

Dib stepped backwards the moment he recognized what it was.

"The explosives! How did you get those?"

"Be gone, foolish dirt child! AWAY with you!"

Afraid to make any rash movements due to the obvious weaponry held in front of him, Dib shifted his weight onto his other foot and glanced back over his shoulder, making sure that the ladder was relatively nearby before he took a brave step forward.

"How did you get them, Zim?" he pushed, watching the packet warily. "I took those with me when I went-"

"Do you really think that ZIM would leave such weaponry in the hands of the Dib?"

Dib bit down on his bottom lip. He must have snatched them from the Voot before he had run off all those months ago…The boy was rather surprised he hadn't noticed something like that. Then again, the whole experience had been pretty distressing…

"Depart from Zim, Dib-human!" the alien hissed out, successfully bringing Dib out of his reverie as he flicked his striped tongue threateningly in the boy's direction. Dib flinched as the packet of explosives was brandished at him, readying himself to leap back closer to the ladder just in case he needed to.

"Zim has plans! He will wreak terror among these dirty human monsters, starting with this..." Zim gagged, spitting. "_Skool_!"

Dib watched with furrowed brows as Zim turned away from him, clutching-arm still outstretched. Those memories were coming back again, constant voices in his head…

_Er, they have, uh, reassigned Zim! Yes! Zim no longer has a need for this filthy planet!_

"…But you're in exile! What could you _possibly_ do, Zim?"

"STUPID EARTHLING!"

Zim promptly spun around and thrust the packet of explosives directly in Dib's face, an action that caused Dib to take a very quick stride in the opposite direction.

"How DARE you question my abilities!" The Irken shook the packet at Dib with another hiss. "The Armada is not necessary! ZIM SHALL DO WHAT ZIM DESIRES!" With the shout, Zim turned quickly back to his previous position and raised the explosives up higher, glaring down at the roof of the skoolhouse.

Dib froze with dread when he realized exactly where Zim was staring. The Skool? What…was the reason for this? Zim didn't even have a mission, or a PAK! Why was he still being so violent?

"…Don't you dare, you…_Zim_," he managed. He had almost wanted to insult him out of habit, but something about this…He couldn't do it. His mind flashed back to the Zim that had laid down on his front with the dislocated antennae and third-degree burns, and suddenly, he understood something.

Zim wasn't unaffected. The Irken's previous devotion to his Tallest might have suggested that Zim would take his exile seriously and refrain from acting against orders, but Dib was becoming more and more aware over time that this wasn't the case at all. There Zim was, PAK-less, mission-less, leader-less and friend-less, and he was fighting. Fighting for a mission that was not given to him, but rather seemingly created by himself.

_Zim needs no Earth! He wants nothing to do with that HORRIBLE cesspool you call a __planet__! He serves no Tallest and rules no alien slave-pigs! ZIM BELONGS TO NOTHING!_

"NO!"

The moment those words had reacquainted themselves with Dib's subconscious, the boy realized that Zim had thrust his arm straight up into the air, the pink eyes fixated on the roof beneath him. Reacting on instinct, he leapt and snatched the guilty wrist in his own hand, colliding with the alien's side and staggering against him as the hard surface of the roof smashed painfully into his chin.

Immediately, sharp booted feet were kicking at his thighs, his stomach, seemingly anywhere they could reach. Groaning and shifting his weight, he half pinned Zim onto the roof and wrenched the skinny arm up above the top of the green head, only to pause his movements when the Irken went still.

"Why is the Dib so opposed to this?" Zim hissed in obvious rage and just as obvious (but more surprisingly) confusion, glaring up at Dib with his teeth bared.

"He hates these pathetic humans just as much as Zim! He should let them die!"

Dib's heart stopped momentarily again, even more words coming back to him.

_The Dib is a failure!_

He shook his head unintentionally, breathing suddenly and inexplicably heavy.

_Time and time __again__, he runs to his parental-unit, his sister-unit, his peer-units, thinking they will take him seriously!_

"I won't!" Dib replied emphatically as he continued to pin Zim's explosives-holding wrist, staring down at him.

"I won't let you do this! You should know that by now! I don't care how they treat me, because this is MY planet! Go get your own!"

"ZIM TRIED TO!"

At that point, Dib even stopped his gasping. The reality of the situation was starting to sink in. Zim wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him…

"Zim left the Earth! He went to Planet Rot, to STAY! He wanted to be left alone!" At this point, Zim was starting to struggle and kick again, and Dib's grip was loosening.

"Zim left your PUNY excuse for a planet! The DIB brought him back! Zim hates the Earth! HE SHALL DESTROY IT!"

Starting to become aware of his surroundings again, Dib shifted his body to keep Zim trapped and tightened his hold on the flailing arms. It was true…This was his fault. Zim wouldn't be here, on the roof of his Skool, ready to blow it up with a packet of explosives, if it hadn't been for Dib.

Savior-of-the-Earth…

"…Nnh!" Snatching the packet swiftly in one hand, Dib pushed himself up on his knees and threw the item with all his strength over the rooftop and into the surrounding trees. He watched with burning eyes as it disappeared into the green of the foliage, only to jump a bit in shock as large bursts of pink and purple flames exploded out, a distinct smell of singed wood and the sound of crackling breaking out about thirty feet from where he sat.

When Dib looked back down, the little Irken was crawling off towards the other edge of the roof, antennae flattened and movements surprisingly shaky. Dib found that he couldn't do anything but watch as he did so, slowly shaking his head back and forth. As much as Zim screamed and ranted, this was true. It was all his fault, this near miss, and yet, sickeningly, he couldn't bring himself to regret it all that much. Zim was there, back on Earth, like he had wanted, and at least he wouldn't have to do an interstellar trip to catch up with him this time.

Dib thought briefly of his sister, but knew she wouldn't care to be left at the dance for a few minutes. A few minutes were all he could take, anyways. Dib was tired of this running. Running away from insults, running for acceptance, running off at the mouth or down the street.

This time, his run was going to accomplish something, even if he wasn't sure what.

"FOOL! NEVER BOTHER ZIM AGAIN!" the alien shouted as he jumped off the roof, small body making its way across the playground and off down the street a few moments later.

Determined, Dib stood up on both feet, watching the form move off into the distance. Without a thought, he clambered back down the ladder and darted away along the most familiar path he knew, dodging a blue-clothed police officer enjoying a donut on the corner of the intersection.

"Fire!" he alerted him, pointing hurriedly in the direction of the explosion before turning the corner.

Yeah. That "never bother Zim again" thing?

That wasn't happening.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Aaaand this story is drawing itself out. It wants to be long, apparently :D

I know the boys are still squabbling about, but I think they're each coming to their own realizations through it all. Please do let me know what you think. I adore feedback!

More to come.


	19. Chapter 18: Same Coin

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Dib's nose felt cold as he made his way quickly down the street towards the most familiar location in his world. For a few seconds, he felt an intense déjà vu; it reminded him of that night years back he had run down this same street, heading unknowingly for Zim's base in pursuit of some dark place in which to hide from the lights and the paper planes. He could only hope that tonight's chase ended in something a little bit more productive than last time.

Stopping in front of the familiar façade, the boy slumped a little and stared up at the purple-rimmed windows, suddenly aware that he was being choked by the horridness of the sweater-vest. He reached up and tugged the collar of his undershirt away from his neck, shivering at the feel of the wind blowing over him. For some reason, he didn't feel like just barging in there was a good idea. It wasn't that he was concerned about being seen; he figured that Zim probably expected him to follow, since that was what he usually did. However, he sensed that something about this situation was sort of…delicate. As delicate as anything involving Zim could be, anyways.

Dib, still keeping quiet for whatever reason, tiptoed up to one of the big pink windows, pressing close as he often had and peering inside. He squinted immediately, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the brightness of the screen that glared out at him through the glass. Unsurprisingly, he could see Zim in there sitting hunched at the edge of the coffee table, lights from the big screen above the sofa illuminating his features in the otherwise dark room. Lights that moved…

It was at that point that that Dib noticed the other guests. Leaning further forward, he watched the two skinny figures on the monitor curiously, realization sinking in with the noticeable expression of shock that passed over his face.

_My Tallest…_

Zim's lips moved noticeably, and Dib had the sudden, irrepressible urge to hear what they were saying. The Irken had talked about his Tallest so frequently…It wasn't even as if the little alien could go back and serve them, now, what with how Dib had left one of his methods of transportation out in deep space, and crashed the other.

Dib winced visibly with guilt, taking a deep breath. He wanted to get in there. Zim was obviously having strong feelings, judging by the wideness of his eyes and his continual reaching towards the screen, and even though Dib was sure that included in them was most likely a deep and seething hatred reserved specially for him, he couldn't bring himself to go home and forget about it. He was only now starting to understand the magnitude of Zim's troubles; he was stranded with no life support, no transportation, and without the freedom to live on the planet he had chosen out in the cosmos. And all for what?

Shaking his head, Dib reached out and tried the doorknob, surprised to feel it turn under his hand. He didn't know why he had had to bring Zim back to Earth; it wasn't as if he had tried to expose him to an audience since then, anyways, and it had been years since Dib had wanted to do such a thing.

Nevertheless, he knew he wasn't going to pass up listening to this conversation.

Opening the door slowly, he peeked in, surprised not to see Zim look over at him. Instead, the little Irken continued flailing at the screen, facing the two skinny figures on it, one of which clutched a bag filled to the brim with popcorn and the other of which was just staring back at Zim with a continual flat expression.

"We _told_ you, Zim. All the planets are being handled by other Invaders." Sighing, the one with the red armor turned and raised a fluorescent green soda cup closer to his face. "We don't have anything to else give you."

Dib, suddenly aware of the very real possibility of being seen by any of the three pairs of eyes, pressed against the edge of the doorframe and watched silently, breath held uncomfortably in his throat.

"But my Tallest…" At this point, Zim stood up and walked a few soft paces closer to the screen, turning a bit to the side and forming his mouth into what looked like a sort of exhausted half-smirk.

"Do you not see? Zim has no PAK! It had a, enh, malfunction, but he survived to invade another day," the little Irken said emphatically, pumping a fist up into the air with a smile.

"Do I not amaze you, my Tallest? Zim is ready for reassignment!"

The crimson Tallest sighed obviously and hovered a little closer, as evidenced by his increasingly large figure on the monitor.

"You _have_ a planet, Zim. Invade that one."

"…" Dib watched silently as Zim's face dropped, his antennae flattening against the back of his head so that the sharp little ends pointed downwards to the floor. For a moment, it looked to Dib like the short Irken might sit down again, but Zim kept his footing and eventually raised his eyes back up to the screen.

"But…Zim has no Voot cruiser," he got out between clenched teeth, eyes narrowing in a way that made Dib's stomach twist sickeningly.

"Zim would need supplies…Weapons, yes! Some simple replacement Irken technology would truly aid him in his mission to-"

"_Zim_!"

This time, the outburst came from the second figure on the screen, who clutched his bag tightly in one claw and advanced forward with one eye narrowed and the other wide.

"You've got your planet! Just, you know…Figure something out." He waved his claw at Zim dismissively and turned aside, crossing his arms.

"Besides, you got to that Planet…Rot, or whatever. Your escape ship was found there by an Irken cleanup crew last week! Your ship would have told you that that planet was available for conquest." The Tallest turned its head, staring down condescendingly.

"Why didn't you invade _there_, mm?"

Dib remembered, suddenly understanding the words he had seen on Zim's computer screen all that time ago.

_Planet status: To be acquired._

"…"

Whatever Dib had expected from Zim, it wasn't silence. Still holding his breaths back, he watched as the shorter Irken slumped noticeably, backing up and returning to his previous position at the edge of the coffee table.

"Planet Rot simply had…a livable atmosphere, my Tallest, considering my PAK-less-ness," was the eventual quiet reply. "One such that…I did not go to invade. I believed it might be an ideal place for designing my latest schemes for the conquest of Earth."

Dib gasped suddenly in realization and clasped his hands over his mouth, staring at the PAK-less back and biting down on his tongue. It was no wonder Zim had picked that planet; Dib had been able to breathe there without life support, just as Zim appeared to be able to do so on Earth. It only made sense that the Irken's PAK had probably allowed him to traverse the cosmos without concern for such things, but without…He probably hadn't had much choice. He'd gone where he could breathe.

Suddenly overcome with the sensation of being trapped, Dib pulled back a little but kept his eyes on Zim, watching.

"Look, Zim." The red-eyed Tallest came forward again, taking the place of the purple one who appeared to have turned his focus to his bag of snacks.

"That Earth planet is yours. Just conquer it if you really want to! Destroy it, even. Whatever." Turning, the thin figure stared at Zim, face a mix of amusement and obvious annoyance.

"Just…don't call us."

The other Tallest nodded in agreement, cheeks filled with food as the both of them chuckled simultaneously.

"Yeah…We'll call_ you_."

Suddenly, the image on the screen flickered to black, all artificial light in the room fizzling out as Zim sat silently at the edge of the table. Although he wasn't sure which party had initiated the conversation he had just witnessed, Dib had a feeling that, should Zim try to call them back, he would be met with little success. As he watched through the crack of the door, eyes adjusting behind his glasses, he saw the little Irken raise his legs up onto the edge of the table, clutching his knees to his chest with both hands. Looking slowly around the room, not sure what the reaction would be if he stepped into Zim's view, Dib swallowed dryly and let his eyes wander over the floor and into all the corners of the room. The round, gleaming metal shell of a defective SIR head still lay motionless in the doorway that led to the kitchen.

Dib couldn't help but glance back over at Zim, who was being surprisingly still and quiet. It wasn't as if he couldn't understand what he must be feeling; even an Irken Invader, something that he suspected was probably supposed to have as few emotions as possible, had to be somewhat mentally affected by exile and alienation, right? No, above anything, Dib felt guilty. He knew that Zim had probably wanted nothing more than to leave Earth, the reminder of all his failure, but Dib hadn't let him.

Still, Dib couldn't shake the feeling that he might have regretted it even more eventually, if Zim had ended up dying out there and never returned to Earth again.

Slowly and inexplicably, he took another couple of steps into the room, increasingly surprised to see that Zim's gaze wasn't leaving the wall. Suddenly, without warning, Dib was reminded of all the nights _he_ had been up staring at the wall, trying to sleep, plagued by the knowledge of how little he was understood and how few people cared to include him in their lives. Before he could stop himself, he took a breath and walked over, waiting to be acknowledged.

Zim's feelers moved a little in the low light, but the Irken didn't look over.

"Stupid Dib-thing. Zim knows you are there."

Dib opened his mouth and shut it again. How long had he known? He didn't think he should ask.

"Go away."

"…no." Swallowing his own bluntness, Dib walked slowly over, somehow not afraid that Zim would lash out at the moment. When he was proven correct, he sat down beside the small figure at the edge of the coffee table, fingers gripping nervously at the metal that was disguised as wood. Like he often did, he felt like he should say something, but he wasn't sure what that was.

"Zim?" he eventually managed, mind having already gone back to the sleepless nights he had spent star- or wall-gazing.

"Remember that time…I showed you all the stuff I built, right? And I explained it all to you?" Shifting, Dib eventually got comfortable by crossing his legs, secretly hoping to break a little of the tension and get one of his most irritatingly persistent mental quandaries answered.

"Why were you….Why did you care about all that stuff? I mean, just…Why?"

Zim looked up so suddenly that Dib almost scooted back in surprise. However, after a couple moments of staring, Zim grit his teeth noticeably and lowered one foot, kicking out into the space below his dangling legs.

"Zim rather wondered…whether the Dib possessed sufficient technology to build him a new PAK," he replied quietly, both antennae vibrating against the top of his head in a weird little dance.

"…Oh…" Dib, very suddenly and strongly, had the urge to look away. As certain as he'd ever been that he would never feel pity for Zim, nothing felt too certain anymore with regards to this little alien. Was that really true? Had Zim gone to him as a last resort?

"But…your Computer works. Couldn't you have it make you a new one?"

"The Computer contains functioning alert and informational systems. All motorized technology has been deactivated, with the PAK," Zim continued quietly, obviously annoyed to be questioned. "His base below has also been completely shut down."

Dib felt his chewed lip beginning to bleed. Zim really did have nothing. Kicking his leg awkwardly, he shifted and sat up straight to feel his foot brush against something beneath the coffee table, immediately spreading his thighs and looking down between them. The sight of gleaming metal and pointed silver tips greeted him from below.

Slowly realizing what he was looking at, Dib reached down gingerly and pulled the discarded PAK, legs and all, up into his grasp, holding it between his palms.

"Go now, Dib-thing."

Dib looked up, not sure what to do. Should he go? Did he have any reason to stay? Did he have any reason not to?

"…I don't want to," he admitted, not sure of the reason why himself.

Zim turned again to look at Dib, pink eyes narrowed this time.

"Leave. Go back to your puny Earth-home and leave Zim in peace!"

Dib stood up, but not with the intention of leaving. He just felt so…He felt like he got it. He knew what it was like to have people turn their backs on him. He had seen that look in Zim's eyes a thousand times in his own in the mirror.

But…this was ZIM!

"Don't you get it? How does this work?" He held the sides of his head, shaking it back and forth with rising frustration. Somehow, when it came to Zim and all this icky emotional stuff, he couldn't keep his cool. Those familiar words just kept coming back, and he was sick of hearing them.

_Dib-beast is a joke! How could he expect anyone to take his life seriously when he does not take it seriously HIMSELF?_

"How can you understand me so well? You're right, Zim! I don't take things seriously! I don't…I don't know what I want! I HATE it here, Zim, but I don't want you to destroy my planet, either!"

He watched Zim as he caught his breath, suddenly unafraid of what the consequences might be for saying the things he had been so desperately thinking for so long. Uncaring of his fate so long as it didn't have to be at the hands of the people he supposedly belonged with, he snatched Zim by the front of the tunic and pulled him in desperately, taking a breath and tossing the mangled PAK onto the sofa.

"You…But you don't know what you want, either, do you?" he asked and stared at him shakily, stewing with all sorts of feelings he didn't have names for. "You thought you were so sure of what you wanted…You tried to conquer my planet, and I tried to stop you, but…you aren't the same."

Zim looked positively startled out of his skin at that remark, but Dib was going to finish. For this once, he was going to finish what he started.

"LIES!"

"No! It's true!" he insisted and leaned in closer, throat feeling dry but words still wanting out. "We aren't the way we were before, don't you see that? Do you realize how many nights I've stayed up planning on which way to dissect you? Do you have any idea how badly I thought I _wanted_ that?"

"Let go of me, you insolent pig-cow!"

"NO! I'm finishing!" Dib gasped a little before continuing, reaching out and putting his hands on Zim's shoulders. He had never succeeded in his missions, but he had put the work into this. This was what he cared about. For whatever reason, he understood now. He had stepped back mentally, and he had seen how frequently he thought about Zim, how much he just wanted somebody who knew him inside and out. He had to tell him before he went crazy himself. He felt like he was standing on a sharp edge over a sea of swirling thoughts, and yet, things looked clearer than ever before.

"You told me I don't take things seriously! YOU said that! You were right! Don't you get it, Zim? I always tried to keep my planet safe, but I HATED it! And I hated YOU, too! But I'm not the only one. You…" He leaned in and gripped him harder, forcing Zim to keep his surprised eyes on his own.

"I'm not going to be that person anymore, Zim. I…I know what I want now. I'm not like before. And…_you_ aren't like before, either, are you?"

Zim began to thrash wildly at this. Holding him precariously by the arms, Dib yanked him back and Zim's hands begin flailing about, sufficiently dislodging Dib's grip. Out of desperation to make sure Zim didn't run away, he flung an arm out and accidentally struck the alien on the side of the face, nail unintentionally digging into the cheek hard enough to cause a crescent-shaped wound.

He was going to be daring. For once, he wanted to be sure of something. He didn't want just to_ think _he was sure about something, only to have some stupid and conflicting desire well up in his heart. He wanted to see something through to the end.

"…You aren't the same, Zim. A year ago, you would have killed me when you had the chance."

Making a quick mental decision, Dib let go of Zim and spread his arms out wide, lips twisting into a dark and sad smile as he opened himself up vulnerably for attack. He knew that Zim didn't have a functioning PAK, but Zim had arms and legs, after all, and teeth. If he wanted to beat him up, Dib would let him. He didn't have anything to lose. Being with Zim, no matter what the repercussions, was always better than being with the people with whom he was supposed to be fitting in.

"Go ahead, Zim. If you really hate me, if you really want Earth so badly that you'll kill the only person who takes you seriously…" He stopped for a breath and looked at Zim, not coldly, not warmly, but openly. If these could be his last moments not breathing through a tube, or something, he was going to be truthful. He had nothing to live for without this green thing standing there. Before, he had chased Zim out of the desire to be a hero, to make those around him proud, and to finally be accepted. After that, he had chased Zim out of the need to have something definite to grab hold of, something to verify that he wasn't crazy, and that maybe there was a place somewhere in the universe with someone who saw him as a force or a danger; someone who thought he was important. But now, after all of that, he saw what was _really _important. He didn't need the acceptance of everyone around him, and he didn't need to verify his own sanity.

Dib felt, and thought, and needed things, and right now, all he needed was someone to understand. Zim had apparently understood him for quite awhile, but Dib was beginning to have the creeping feeling that _he_ understood Zim pretty well by now, too. Seeing Zim struggle through the PAK explosion, the exile, and the desperation to keep a handle on the mission he had thought he had, had brought Dib to a conclusion so startling that it had taken many years to figure it out.

They were just the same.

Dib hadn't had to examine his insides to come to terms with the emotions that the alien had never really told him about directly. Zim had obviously hurt. He was unwanted by his race, exiled from the people who he obviously so respected and looked up to. He had tried to run away from his problems, all while operating as if conquering Earth was still within his power. He said one thing and did another. He obviously felt things, things he couldn't act on.

Zim was the only thing in Dib's life that had ever summed him up so clearly, and now it was Dib's chance to return the favor. He wanted Zim to stay. He wanted to keep understanding, to keep thinking and talking, or shouting, as life called for it. As many struggles as there could be between them, Dib didn't mind. He'd wrestle with this alien until the end of time if it meant they could have identical black eyes at the end of it all.

Dib smirked a little, eyes tearing up as he looked curiously over the small cut on Zim's cheek.

Irken blood was pretty red, wasn't it?

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

I'm sorry if this is a bizarre ending to a chapter. I'm also sorry that this chapter took eons to come out. Now that I'm working almost full-time, it takes more focus to produce solid writing.

I hope this chapter strikes a chord with somebody. I know there's the potential for this to maybe be a little too sappy, but I hope I avoided drifting completely into that realm.

Also, I adore the Tallest, so they were going to make an appearance sooner or later. Obviously it only works to villainize (?) them a little bit, but really. What lovable jerks...

Thank you for reading. Will update soon as possible!


	20. Chapter 19: You See Right Through Me

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"That's…why I haven't been sleeping."

As Dib stood and watched the alien, who was standing just as still and didn't seem to be harboring any murderous urges at the moment, he began to feel the realities churning inside his stomach. How different could they be? How many nights had Dib stayed up sleeplessly, working on this gadget or that weapon, talking out loud to himself? How still had Zim stood moments ago, quiet in the face of the two beings that had probably expected him to be dead until they were proven wrong?

Dib realized it was no wonder he hadn't been able to sleep for so long. He had just wanted somebody to see he had done something worthwhile for once. He wanted somebody else who got it.

"…Zim?" Confused as to why he didn't hear any talking, Dib blinked a couple times to refocus his eyes and stared at the Irken's back, momentarily forgetting about the PAK circumstance until he glanced over and saw the spidery thing laying beside the sofa. He had a hard time believing that Zim had really considered asking him to fix that thing, but that made more sense now, too. Dib knew that feeling of desperation, when you needed something.

He needed a friend about that badly right now, but he doubted he was going to get it. Kneeling down slowly, Dib reached under the coffee table and snatched the PAK a second time, looking back up at Zim. What would the little Irken do now? He couldn't fly off. He couldn't destroy Earth and make it his own. Dib didn't know how that one transmission had gotten through to his leaders (he wondered if they had turned the communication block off once they thought Zim had died), but he doubted Zim was going to be getting another one of those anytime soon. Zim would probably just sit there, avoiding looking at him, while Dib went home and sat there, and looked at the wall.

"I guess I'll…see you around." Dib felt his fingers sweat against the cold metal as he watched Zim stand there in front of him. Slowly letting the PAK down, holding it in his slippery fingers by one of its limp legs, he turned to leave and paused, finding his feet didn't particularly seem like they wanted to go anywhere.

With a narrowing of eyes, the boy swallowed and walked up slowly to the back of Zim's standing figure. He almost wanted to…should he? What did he have to lose?

Unsure whether or not he'd get another chance to do it, hands rising up from his sides, Dib wrapped his arms around Zim swiftly and held, making sure not to squeeze. For a moment he mistook himself for having the urge to cry, but, after a few deep breaths and the feel of his cheek against the back of Zim's neck, Dib realized that wasn't what he was feeling at all. It was rather more a hollowness than a sadness; it was the feeling of hopelessness, the sensation that accompanied Dib's mental realization that he would probably never get to do this again, and certainly not with permission from Zim. Still, he found himself having a hard time enjoying the moment. He wanted someone to get him. Zim _got_ him. Not only did he get him, but he _had_ him, too. Even if he didn't know it, Zim did have something. He might not have had a Voot, or an Empire, or a planet, or the respect from his race, but he did have something.

He had Dib, and Dib knew that he didn't have Zim back.

"…I'm sorry about your ship," Dib managed eventually, still holding Zim's limp self from behind as he spoke to him. He didn't have much he felt he could say, but he supposed he at least owed him an apology for that, if nothing else. Suddenly feeling a slow, familiar and yet hollow urge, the boy let go of the Irken and smiled only slightly, watching him bitterly from behind. Zim didn't turn around.

"I'll be at home…not sleeping."

Dib then turned away and held the PAK against his chest, running home to keep his promise. All night, he hunched in the darkness of his garage, sparks flying over gleaming silver, vision lit only by the red night that glimmered from the nearby screen.

CHARGING FAILED

ATTEMPTING TO RECHARGE BATTERY

o~o

The skies look like Irk's tonight.

Yes, like Irk's skies indeed. These Earth-skies normally have the wispy cloudies, but I can see all the stars on this day. I could always see the stars on Irk.

Enh…It is still different on this _filthy_ planet. The air smells of HUMAN! Hnngh! Disgusting. I suppose I shall turn around and go the other way. It may stink less of Earth-pig on the next street.

It is very quiet. I suppose that is to be expected; I have observed that these humans are diurnal creatures, and spend most of their nights sleeping away in their home-nests. It is rather a fascinating weakness that they have. The Dib, however…he appears to be up at all hours of the night.

That idiot Dib! I hiss as the enraged stomping of my foot sends my heel down right on the sharp edge of a stone. Changing my path to the edge of the sidewalk most near to the houses, I turn around. The area is familiar…but what does Zim care? All of Earth is the same. A home to icky, evil creatures like the Dib, who never sleep but to make Zim's life a living pit of hot gloosh!

_Sleep… _Zim sees the darkness in the windows of each house he passes. Pathetic! Pathetic beings, requiring such a primitive mechanism for regeneration. Zim's eyes most certainly do NOT feel heavy! He will have his walk. Perhaps he will find his cruiser and perhaps it will be operational.

Zim turns a corner and peers around the twisty Earth-hedge. Stupid Dib. Things always happen when the Dib is there: those sort of little sicky feelings come and Zim can feel them swimming around in his squeedily-spooch. Hmmm…In a way, Dib is rather a fascinating phenomenon, really, not because he defends his planet but because he is the only resident of this planet that seems to be interested in doing so.

And yet…

Hmm. Zim is here, on Earth. Not Irk, not Rot, but this cesspool. I suppose the Dib really never did take his own mission seriously.

…No! Nooo the rumblies! Those insidious rumblies! Zim shall not relent! He cannot help but hold his belly. What would my Tallest think of me now, reduced to this?! An Irken with no PAK and these horrible rumblies. Perhaps this really is what the humans like the Dib feel when they haven't consumed any foods for some time. GIR would laugh at me, if he hadn't been disposed of…

Zim has to sit…He manages a few steps before reaching the edge of the sidewalk. If Zim never managed to satisfy those horrible rumblies…who would know that he had expired? What planet would go to its knees? Ooh, that terrible wind! Zim hates the cold. At least there seems to be a red light above him.

Wait…Lights? Is a human awake? Is another creature conscious while Zim sits and thinks and has the rumblies? Might some beast notice if he expired on their front yard? Maybe if Zim looks up he will be able to te-

AH! No! Nooo! How can it BE? How has he managed to get HERE, of all places, HERE?! At least this explains why there are lights on at this time in the Earth's daylight cycle. Zim should return to his base and…well…do something. Something other than sit here.

Grr! Those horrible rumblies. They drain me of energy. Zim does not think he can manage the journey. Perhaps he should not. Perhaps Zim is better out-of-commission…

No! Despite the Dib, despite my Tallest, I want to live.

I want to LIVE.

The window is a reasonable height. Perhaps if Zim climbs…

o~o

_One more…_ Holding his welding gun as steadily as possible, Dib finished squeezing out the hot gooey metal and set his tool aside, pulling up the protective goggles and peering through his normal glasses at what he can see through the red light. Everything seemed to be in order; he had refastened the spring-operated PAK legs into the inner shell, pounded out all the dents and tried to paint over the scratches, welded the fastening rings back into the holes on the open panels, and performed some basic maintenance on the battery. As beaten-up as the device had been when he had gotten it originally, days of hard work had resulted in what appeared to be potential success. The thing now lit up, and the PAK legs extended reasonably smoothly.

"Just need to put these back," the boy muttered to himself, pulling the charred, pink plastic panels from under his work desk and setting them on top. He dipped a rag in a bottle of glass-cleaner and pulled it out, skimming it over the edges of each panel and doing his best to clean off the ash. Luckily, the panels mostly seemed to have popped off before they could be too warped (Dib had also been pleasantly surprised by how thick and resilient the plastic was), and looked rather like they would fit right back into place.

Forcing himself not to check the innards of his project again, not wanting his fascination to get the better of him, he carefully slid the clean panels back into the three holes at the back of the PAK, setting it down and staring at it with a bit of a hard smile. Had he done it?

Dib himself didn't really know why he had gone to the trouble. He was absolutely absorbed by interest regarding that kind of technology, of course, but he wasn't sure he would care as much if the PAK had belonged to some other Irken. Somehow, knowing that this thing had traveled with Zim since they'd met and had been tossed aside so carelessly…Dib couldn't help but want to return it to its former glory. He sighed, slumping. Glory would have to be good enough, because it wasn't like Zim would ever allow him close enough to give it ba-

TAP TAP SCRIIIIITCH

"Huh?" Startled out of his thought process, Dib turned and looked over at the window at the side of the garage, eyes growing wide behind his glasses. Certain he was seeing things, he blinked a few times and took a step forward, only able to make out the round, red eyes he knew better than any eyes looking back at him.

"…" Wary, he tiptoed closer and watched the little gloved hands scratching at the glass of the window, surprised. Was it really him? "ZIM?" he asked quietly, practically only mouthing the word at the thing past the glass. The alien continued to scratch and tap as Dib's mind began to race. Why would Zim come here? What did he want from him?

"Just a second," he told the Irken and walked over to the window, pulling the little lever at the side and tugging, wrenching it loose. Suspicious but mostly curious, Dib pulled the window up and stepped backwards to allow him inside.

"…Zim, I…" Realizing he had expected to be interrupted, Dib awkwardly went quiet watching Zim drag himself over the ledge and into the garage. The little extraterrestrial managed to hop down and, to the boy's surprise, stumbled on his feet a little, looking up with a sort of half-glare half-stare that looked sort of delirious. Zim had his wig on lopsidedly but no contacts, reminding Dib of their previous encounter.

Clearing his throat, Dib went to speak again.

"Can I, uh, help you with…something?" It was really hard to talk to someone you hadn't expected to ever see again. Zim still looked skinny, like he had that last time he had been in his room…

"Oh!...Go ahead and sit down." Running to the door that led from the garage to the rest of the house, he quickly made his way into the kitchen and spotted his newest dinner on the countertop, picking up the half-devoured tray of cupcakes and bringing it back out into the hall. He tiptoed warily into the room, not sure whether to expect an ambush, and found Zim standing back where he had left him, still with the weird clear look in his eyes, like he was staring at nothing. A little unnerved, he sat down on the crate beside his workbench and set the tray onto the desk area itself, pointing to a box nearby.

"You can sit down," he repeated in confusion, pointing to the cakes Zim was already eyeing. Zim immediately grabbed one cupcake in each hand. As he gobbled them down, tongue flicking out to taste the pink frosting on the tops, Dib felt the very strange urge to smile a little. He did after a few seconds, finding it hard to resist. And he had always thought it would be a cold day in July before he found anything about Zim even remotely tolerable…

"…Why'd you show up?" the boy eventually decided to ask, trying to calm the slight spinning his head was trying to do. The obsessive compulsivity in him was crying out to ask questions, but he limited himself to that one. He knew what Zim had gone through. He supposed there wasn't really much to talk about, between them, especially if the alien hated him as strongly as he thought he did.

To his intense surprise, Zim actually looked up at him with what seemed to be very little rage.

"Zim was hungry," was the reply he got. The wig twitched around slightly atop Zim's head followed by Dib's eyes in the weird, low red light that emanated out from the project in the corner. Dib remembered the incident with the cookies awhile back, the night Zim had left…Or maybe, rather, the night he had driven him away.

"…You can have as much as you want." Sighing, Dib looked down between his feet for a moment. He knew he should have felt awkward, but he felt more saddened than anything else. It was almost like there was a mirage in front of him, something he couldn't touch. "I didn't know you were such a fan of my cooking," he continued wryly, not expecting a reply.

"Zim likes the sticky stuff," the alien did indeed reply, words followed by a slurp at the top of the cupcake that almost startled Dib in its gusto.

"Wh-wh…The frosting, you mean?" Dib inquired slowly, watching Zim go for the top of the treat. That was what he was licking, anyhow…

"No. The sticky." Little black fingers made a 'sticky' motion. "That makes it taste sweet."

"Oh…sugar?"

"Mm. Is that what you meat-brains call it?"

Startled by the sudden lightness of the conversation, Dib quirked a little grin once again, curious. It had hardly occurred to him that something that almost sounded like an insult could be so warming.

"Well if that's what you're talking about…what do you call it?"

Zim shrugged, licking the remaining frosting from the top of the little pastry.

"Something different, surely, on Irk," he told him, only then pausing in his devouring of Dib's desserts. Dib watched the wig slide slowly, already having been shifted to one side, until it plopped off and onto the floor, leaving Zim's two black stalks to perk slightly before flattening noticeably against his skin. As quickly as it had come, the lightness was gone.

_His home planet…_ Zim really seemed to be upset about that. Dib sat up quickly and paused. What could he do? Zim wouldn't allow him near, surely, and he didn't know if contact would send the right message. In one way, it felt absolutely absurd, to even think of doing anything COMFORTING to the entity he had fought for such a long time, but something told Dib that it really couldn't hurt. Zim had nothing to use against Dib anymore, really, and the mere thought of the cold feel of those alien sleepcuffs in his hands made the boy himself shiver with apprehension.

As he stared awkwardly at Zim's belly area for lack of a better place to look, Dib took a deep breath and froze mid-gasp, feeling the slight burn on his wrist he had acquired as a result of his most recent devotion. Glad that Zim didn't seem to be doing anything but finishing his meal, he stood up and turned around to head for the countertop of his work bench. He reached out in the semi-darkness and picked up the cold shell of a machine, teeth working on his bottom lip.

"I-I did this," he said awkwardly and turned around, holding the repaired PAK out in the Irken's direction to show him. The metal felt so familiar in his grip; cold yet familiar, like an old friend you maybe thought you didn't like so much, but still continued hanging out with for whatever reason. He had spent so many nights working on it since he had taken it from Zim's house, and days, too. Lately he ate with a screwdriver in one hand and a welding gun in the other. Interestingly enough, Dib wasn't really sure why he put so much effort into repairing it. It wasn't really as if the thing had done him any favors in the past, anyways. There was one thing that appealed to him about it, though…

"It's yours…" Dib continued, staring into the watching eyes that had now looked up to meet his. "You…wanted to know if I could make you a new PAK, so I tried to fix your old one. I had to study it for awhile and figure some stuff out but I…" He took a deep breath, suddenly feeling very thick in the throat.

"I-I tried…" Without making the conscious decision, the human thrust his hands out and held the device in Zim's direction, startled by his own move. It felt right, but he hadn't planned it.

"…So take it." Shivering, hands suddenly colder than ever, he watched Zim's feelers twitch, then perk, then flatten again, conveying a sense of indecision that reminded Dib of a human raising an eyebrow. Wondering whether Zim would take it, he simply stood and watched pink panels glimmer under his fingers. It struck him for a moment that he might hate the thing; he had endured so many bruises and burns fixing it, so many late nights and early morning headaches and heavy eyelids. So many days, hours, weeks had gone into this piece of metal, the piece of metal that had so willingly been an accomplice in the world domination plot he had so strongly opposed in the past, and yet without it…Dib had no world to worry about. There was no Zim without this thing, at least, no Zim that was like the Zim he remembered. Zim was loud, and boisterous, and…just Zim-like, in general. At least, he was with this thing attached to his back flesh.

As Dib continued hating yet cradling the PAK, Zim stood up from his seat and reached out for the device, snatching it from the boy's arms with frosting-covered fingers and grasping it in his tiny hands. At first, his expression conveyed an element of surprise, even pleased surprise; and yet, the surprise was tinged with something else, something that got stronger as the moments passed until Zim looked like he was frowning in pondering, as if trying to figure out the meaning of what had just happened. However, before Dib could make any moves or words, Zim turned around and held the flat side of the shell close to his back.

CLICK CLICK

Dib stared as two little metal prongs ejected from the flat edge, watching them swivel slowly until they oriented vertically with Zim's spine. Only then noticing that two parallel holes had opened along the center of Zim's back, he gasped and his mouth dropped open in half amazement and half horror, only able to watch as the alien gripped the dome part of the PAK and quickly shoved, effectively popping the prongs into the openings in his body. Emitting a soft squeak of disbelief, Dib stepped backwards warily, unable to keep his mind from reeling.

He'd done it. It was reinstalled…right? What would happen now? Would Zim just be…normal, now? Good old, plan-plotting, human-hating Zim? Wasn't that what he had wanted, why he had brought Zim back to Earth? Hands cold, Dib balled his fingers into fists.

Why didn't he feel happy about that prospect?

KAJUNK

Before further questions even had a chance to pop up, a gleam of metal grazed across his vision, and the loud clank of a sound sent Dib stepping backwards out of surprise. He stared down and first saw Zim standing across from him: the alien was standing up and looking over his own shoulder at the floor, at the little popping, dancing sparks that were starting to traipse around the floor of the garage. Dib followed his gaze and stared at the slightly sizzling device, eyes following the molten edges of the little metal prongs that apparently hadn't integrated correctly with whatever Zim had inside himself.

"…Oh…" he eventually sighed, trying to collect in his head what had just happened. So many nights, hours, weeks and stress…for a failure.

"I-I'm…" Dib felt something fiery. As Zim sat down in a slightly hunched position, the boy felt like he wanted to just ram his fist into something. That had been it, he realized, his last hope! Zim wouldn't stay on Earth willingly, not without a PAK.

"All I want is for you to _stay here_!" he shouted to the room and kicked the edge of his workbench, realizing he wasn't angry, but sad, rather, sad to know he couldn't even do anything right when push came to shove. Even if a successful reintroduction of the PAK _had_ turned Zim back into what he had been before, so what? What harm had he REALLY done? Zim gave him a chance to do what he had always wanted to do! Zim was the only creature in the known universe that actually WONDERED what Dib was doing or thinking from time to time!

When he finally got the courage to look back at Zim, afraid he wouldn't be there and that Dib would be alone talking to himself in an empty room for the rest of his life, the alien was standing again, watching him with the weirdest look he had ever seen on Zim's face. The hairless brows were down but not vicious, and the black feelers were perked only slightly, vibrating at a rate that reminded Dib of a hummingbird's wings. It looked almost like Zim was concentrating hard on something, something the nature of which Dib had no ide-

Suddenly, something skinny was gripping him. Hard. His air was forced out of his system all at once and a ringing ache shot sharply into his skull. He cried out and flailed a bit from the shock, opening his eyes and only then realizing that he was on his back with some small but noticeable mass laying atop him. There were some sharp, small things digging in his back, too…

Sucking in a deep breath and trying to get his bearings, Dib opened his eyes back up and looked down at the alien that seemed to be trying to squeeze the absolute life out of him. He felt himself break immediately into a cold sweat and stared, unable to remember the last time Zim had touched him of his own will. Was he attempting murder? Slowly, a pink flush settled over his face and cheeks, bringing with it a tingling heat.

Before a coherent thought could form in his brain, small fleshy hands reached up and touched Zim's flat back, becoming acquainted with the PAK-less-ness firsthand. What…what _were_ they now? Trapped. Trapped here, here on this planet neither of them liked, both forced to eat and sleep and keep on going.

"Zim…"

The red light around them flashed and burned Dib's eyes, flickering to a bright, fluorescent green. Dib sat up quickly and brought the hugging thing with him in his movement, both pairs of eyes flicking to the corner of the bedroom where, forgotten until now, one certain project sat in the corner, the bright laptop screen before it blaring a message in block lettering.

CHARGING SUCCESSFUL

BATTERY RECHARGED

Dib went limp, mouth dry and skin white.

_No. _

_Way._

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Aaaand that was the next to last chapter, folks! Chapter 20 will be the finale.

Yes, that's Zim's POV in that center section, as I hope was obvious. I know it breaks quite a bit with the trend of the story, but I couldn't help thinking that we've been hearing from Dib this whole time, and Zim deserved a little bit of interesting dialogue, particularly since the story is coming to an end. He's a little hard to read, I think, in this story, since he's going through so much and yet Dib has to guess what he's thinking all the time. I hope it was at least a little bit interesting hearing his side of things.

Please let me know what you think of this installment, if it pleases you! Thank you for reading.


	21. End: Found

**Starships and Spitwads**

by **icypinkpop**

Pairing: Zim & Dib Friendship (ZaDF)

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez gets all the glory for these two.

Warnings: Not many…Perhaps a little OOC-ness, and slight language.

Author's note: Well this is a…surprising return. How long has it been since I posted any fanfiction?

I couldn't help but want to write a story about these two. Apparently I live under a rock, because at the ripe old age of 19 I've only now discovered _Invader Zim_. And what a great discovery that was.

This really isn't supposed to be ZaDR-y, but going in with preconceived notions takes out all the fun, so please, I encourage you to interpret it as you wish.

My overall goal in writing this was to stay as in-character as possible. I love these guys, so I wanted to capture them as best I could. I hope that you can give me some feedback on how you think I did.

Enjoy!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

The newly green light stung Dib's eyes in the sweetest way possible. Alien still in his arms, Dib sat up and looked down, slowly putting an arm around Zim before the other made its way around as well. He hugged him softly, surprised to find his 'nemesis' not quite budging, before he scooted a bit and shifted, wanting to go over and make sure he wasn't imagining what had just happened.

"Zim…" He inched over again and found his cheeks getting a little hot, even as he smiled. Zim didn't even seem to be moving. How had all of this changed between them in such a short time? Wait…it hadn't been that short a time, had it?

Finding he couldn't push Zim off him no matter how curious he was, the boy sighed and reciprocated awkwardly, still having trouble showing this kind of affection towards someone he had always tried to hate so much. Did Zim even know what that green light meant? He couldn't suspect he did. So what was this even about?

"Look…nyah!…" Gently dislodging Zim and standing up, taking Zim by the arm, he pulled him up alongside and looked down into the big red eyes unsurely. He had no idea why Zim was acting this way towards him, but there was something even more shocking going on.

"…LOOK!"

Dib all but dragged the Irken over to the corner where the Voot carrier sat, a bit dented, somewhat dull in its luster but quite well reformed and reshaped from the hours of hard work, with its pink-purple hatch glowing a sort of mossy purple in the bright green light that emanated out from the laptop screen nearby. With a shaky and startled smile, he pointed to the big letters that beamed out and lit up the rest of the room.

CHARGING SUCCESSFUL

BATTERY RECHARGED

"I did it!" he said emphatically and hopped a little bit in his shock and enthusiasm, turning to stare into Zim's equally startled eyes.

"I fixed it! I know you…You kind of didn't give it to me, but…" He smiled guiltily and shrugged, arms up and waving around emphatically. "I really…I took it after you left and I've been working on it ever since. I know I kind…owe you…I guess." Dib was surprised. That wasn't as hard to say as he thought it would be.

"I dunno if it's totally right…" The whole fixing-the-PAK thing hadn't gone over too well, but he had done his best. The thing had charged up. That meant his wiring had to have gone at least semi-properly.

"…For Zim?"

Looking down, surprised to hear the other speak, Dib watched the Irken as he gazed right up at him with his little arms outstretched. He watched the small hands grip at the air and smiled slowly, shrugging a bit as the confusion set in. Had he really only done this for Zim? He supposed he had done it to keep himself busy, to keep his mind off of his own guilt about forcing Zim to a life on Earth, but now that it was really fixed…

"Maybe you don't have a PAK! But you can…go back to Irk, right?!" Dib reasoned and stared at the little Irken, smiling a sad smile. He felt less guilty now, true. He had actually done something that might help Zim. He could go back to his home planet, get his PAK fixed, maybe even go back to taking over planets, different planets…

Planets that weren't Earth.

Before he could have another thought, Dib had to reach up and wipe his eyes. Why hadn't he realized it before? He had gone to Rot to bring Zim BACK to Earth, yes, but now he had given him a way to leave it again, to leave Earth for good. To leave HIM for good. Dib was tired of running, running after nothing. Maybe he really was that selfish.

Looking over, he watched Zim step over towards the Voot and inspect it, probably suspicious.

No, Dib thought, biting his lip. He couldn't keep him there. He had tried before and he couldn't force Zim to do that. People had been forcing Dib all his life, to go to a school where everyone hated him, to be a 'real' scientist like his dad, to act 'normal' like everybody else. Dib didn't like it. It hurt.

Zim was hurting too, and he could tell. He had to give Zim a chance to get away from it all, even if Dib didn't have one himself.

Hearing beeping, the human glanced over and watched in slight surprise as the little Irken pushed open the glass hatch, climbing into his ship and plopping himself on the single driver's seat. Supposing he shouldn't be too startled that Zim wanted to check it out, Dib walked over and looked down at him awkwardly, somehow worrying that he might not find it satisfactory. He didn't really consider how strange it was to care what Zim thought about anything. He couldn't see Zim as an enemy anymore, or a nemesis, or even someone he just plain didn't like. Dib got Zim. At least, he felt like he did. And if Dib knew Zim, he knew what was going to happen next.

"Let me out, Dib-thing…!"

Dib looked down to find Zim, a startlingly unfamiliar and yet likely Zim, staring up at him with narrowed eyes and a demanding pose, feet folded beneath him as he sat in the chair and put one hand on the steering stick. The Irken flicked one red button with his middle finger and pointed demandingly up at the roof, leaving Dib to marvel at the oddness of his expression. In one way, he looked and acted JUST like he had when they met! It almost crept Dib out. That glare was directed right at him, and the loudness was just like Zim. Just like how Zim had been, anyway.

Something was different, though. Zim was yelling and demanding, and pointing, sure, but he was a bit…jerky, or something, maybe stiff. He almost looked like he was twitching. It was almost like he didn't seem sure of himself, or that he was trying too hard to be what he had been before so effortlessly.

Dib sighed and pushed the button to open the hatch on the top of their garage. It was a feature he had installed long ago after he had made the room his own personal lab, but he had never anticipated he would be using it for this particular purpose. The whirring buzzed in his ears as he watched Zim fidget strangely, taking a deep breath and trying to drown out the ringing in his ears. He had to be imagining it. Zim was back to normal. He had given the Zim a way to be just like his old self, and Zim was taking it.

The rush cold air that floated over Dib made him shiver as the hatch finished its automated sliding, leaving a big night sky filled with small stars directly in view. He looked over at Zim who had moved a hand to what Dib had learned (mostly due to all the rewiring he had done) was the ON switch for the engine and waited, holding his breath. Maybe it wouldn't work. Maybe Zim really WOULD be stuck here…Maybe…

A whirring thrum brought his attention to the engine barrels at the back, which were now vibrating slightly and letting from each opening a distorting stream of heat that blurred the toolboxes and pipes that were against the garage wall. Dib's heart leapt and dropped simultaneously and he stood back, trying to catch another look at Zim, whose face was disappearing behind the pink shield of glass now descending over the hatch. The painful sense of déjà vu was creeping up on him

_Zim belongs to nothing…_

Oh…he was…really going…! Dib reached out with both arms before he could stop himself, mind a total mess.

Where would Zim go? Maybe he wouldn't go back to Irk, after all? Maybe he'd go back to Rot. That was where Dib had taken him from. The boy felt his nose wrinkle and his lungs burn as the smell of rocket fuel began to waft out from the new hot spot within the garage, and watched the Voot begin to rise up from the floor, Zim now totally encased.

Was that really where Zim wanted to be? Starved on some alien planet with no technology but the Voot? Maybe. Dib thought he knew Zim, but maybe he was wrong. He didn't know anything anymore. He just wanted to reach out and grab one of those familiar feelers and tug it. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make Zim glare and give Dib something to stick his tongue out about. The hurt in Dib's chest was sudden and sharp. He wanted those bumps and bruises and the late nights where he still got some sleep, and the wrestling around in the bushes, and the water balloons, and the sitting on tacks and-

WHOOSH

Dib was on the cement of the garage floor, staring at the bright beam of neon pink and purple that was shooting off into the distance so many miles away. It was so clear and yet he felt like he had to have dreamt the past few years up. Maybe that was why his chest felt so empty, and he felt like he could float up. Maybe it was all just a figment of his imagination. He was 'crazy', after all. Or maybe he had just woken up; maybe Zim hadn't ever even been there in the first place, and he had wanted something to chase that might chase him back every once in awhile.

Alone, he managed to dredge himself up from the floor and made his way over to the ladder that rested against the edge of the garage, hoisting himself up each rung and staring with tired, tired eyes at the sky, not looking where he put his hands. He just…couldn't bring himself to care now. He was pretty sure ghosts existed; he felt enough like one. Bigfoot was real, too, still, right? He didn't feel like hunting to find out. He knew his treks would lead him back to aliens, always aliens, and one alien in particular. He didn't think he'd ever be able to find out if that alien were real or not. Maybe it was all just a waste of his time. Maybe he should go back to school and let the paper airplanes pummel him in the head day in, day out, without the hope that one of them might have flown with a weird, malformed wing from a three-fingered hand.

He hoisted himself onto the edge of the roof and sat down over it, staring up at the sky without his usual satellite briefcase or telescope. He knew Zim had been real, flesh and blood, and all, and it hurt. It hurt badly to know that, and not because Dib hadn't been able to prove his existence to everyone else before he had left. It hurt because he KNEW Zim had been real, and he KNEW what he was, and what he liked, and how he would react. Dib might have even ventured to say he knew how Zim felt sometimes, and not only when he was shouting about something or other. He had seen the way Zim looked when he was hungry and tired and stuff, and Dib had felt that, too.

He couldn't help but think that if they had met without the whole world-domination thing on the table, they might have been…friends, or something like that. Or acquaintances? Dib shook his head at himself immediately, eyes watery. He felt too much about Zim to be only acquaintances.

Sighing, feeling like he had completed his transformation from human to transient ghost thing, Dib turned and hoisted his leg down over the edge, the ringing in his ears hollow but loud. He let his weight fall off downwards and stepped onto the top rung of the ladder, head swimming strangely as if something loud was creeping up behind him, and paused when he felt a warm rush of air against the hand that was at the top of the ladder, turning wearily to the side and glancing over his shoulders.

Two big pink-red eyes looked right back at him, and he almost toppled over.

"…!" Vocal chords on hiatus, Dib scrambled to grab ahold of the edge of the garage hatch and stepped down one rung. He blinked wildly and stared at the vibrating dome of purple metal that had landed itself within feet of him, looking at the two extensions on the back that were balanced against the side of the roof and the all-too-familiar face that looked down from under the open hatch.

"Dib."

Dib just stared up in disbelief. He couldn't be imagining it. Zim had just…he was back? Really? Why?!

"Uh…" Really poetic, Dib thought. It was hard to make any sense when your heart was pulsing so hard it felt like it was going to burst.

"Yeah," he replied absently and reached up to put his hand shakily on the edge of the Voot, as if trying to make sure it really was there. Zim, standing up on the driver's seat and peering down with a wide-eyed look, caught Dib further off guard with his expression. He looked so much more…Like Zim. More sure of himself.

"…" A gloved hand was reached out in Dib's direction.

"Get in, stink-beast."

Dib's heart leapt into his mouth immediately, beating on the back of his tongue. Staring from Zim, to his hand, to Zim again, he could only say quietly the remaining thing that was still confusing his brain.

"…No Irk?" he fumbled. Zim hadn't gone back? He was really here?

"No Irk."

Suddenly, Dib had the feeling that two of his questions had been answered at once. Looking down into the dreary garage, at the laptop monitor that lay on the floor beaming a purple NO CONNECTION, at the bench covered in wrenches and diagrams and crumpled paper, Dib felt something happening to his head. He was hearing something weird, something he hadn't really felt in a long time. Not since the last time he had lost his glasses, he thought, although he wasn't really sure why that came to mind.

When he took a moment to breathe, he realized that the sound was laughing. It was also coming from him. The buzzing was gone.

"…ZIM!" All of the physical strength left in his body was used to hoist himself back up to the rooftop and to clamber over the edge of the Voot cruiser. All but falling in beside Zim and turning around, he lunged and caught the alien in the most bruising grip he could muster, feeling the seat vibrate against his body as the hatch shut with a click.

"We…I'll have to…" Even through his excitement, Dib knew he couldn't live out in space. Not unless Zim took him to some wonderful place, which, compared to Earth, Dib could only imagine a lot of places were. He didn't care right now, though. It didn't matter. They wouldn't be running. They'd fly.

Zim muttered something and Dib grinned against his skinny arm, gazing at the stars that shot past through the glass of the hatch. Dib had no idea where they'd go or how long they'd be there. He vaguely knew he had to return to Earth some time, to see his sister, mostly, if nothing else, but everything Earthly just seemed so dark and cold and unforgiving in comparison to the bright flashes of starlight that flickered past them as they rose into the cosmos. He had been right. He understood all he needed to. And he was sure, by the time they got anywhere, they probably would have smacked each other around to the point of black eyes.

Dib grinned broadly.

His head was spinning.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

And that's all, folks.

Please tell me what you thought.


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